A qualitative analysis of the current and future leadership development needs of third-line leaders in the oil and gas sector in Kuwait

Whilst the topic of leadership has been widely studied it remains little understood, particularly at the first-level line of leadership, especially as it relates to developing countries such as Kuwait. This study critically analyses and presents the needs, skills and capabilities of frontline leaders working in the Kuwait’s Oil and Gas Sector companies. It also examines how such needs and competencies can be developed so as to make these leaders more effective in leading functional units (teams) and to improve organisational performance overall. The study produces a frontline leadership needs and skills development framework that contributes to a better understanding of leadership in a Middle Eastern country (Kuwait), taking into account important contextual factors that influence leadership. Influenced by a social constructivist philosophy and based on qualitative evidence gathered from 42 Team Leaders, the essential leadership needs neglected by previous literature (and possibly lacking in Kuwait) were: business knowledge, technical skills, leadership and managerial skills, communication skills, decision-making skills and change management skills. These leadership needs reflected what the third line leaders understood and personally believed to be essential leadership dimensions for them to be effective and to competently undertake their work. These leadership needs constituted the foundation for their present and future leadership development in order to enhance their leadership capabilities. However, no single methodology was identified as a ‘one size fits all’ solution to meeting the development needs of the Team Leaders. Nevertheless, on the job-training was considered to be the most effective approach to develop these skills and capabilities. It is recommended that top management, and in particular human resources departments within the Oil and Gas Sector companies should continuously identify the needs of third-line leaders and focus on developing skills and competencies considered to be lacking and the most important by these frontline leaders, rather than offering a raft of seemingly unconnected development activitie

Consequences of Audit Quality in Signaling Theory Perspective

The purpose of this research is to examine the effect ofAudit Quality toward higher fees, lower litigation; goodreputation; client and higher valuation. Mostly the researchabout audit quality only investigate the determinant factors,meanwhile this research investigate the effect of audit quality.The samples of this research are 101 Accountants in manyprofession around Jakarta roomates selected by purposivesampling. Path analysis is used in this research. The resultsshown that audit quality have an effect toward higher fees, auditquality have an effect toward lower litigation, audit quality havean effect toward good reputation and audit quality have an effecttoward higher valuation client

Phenolic Content and Antioxidant, Antibacterial Activities of Ethanolic Extract From Lemon Balm and Oregano Plants

The antioxidant and antibacterial activities of ethanolic extract and phenolic compounds extract of Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) and Oregano (Oreganum vulgare) plants were studied; the phenolic content and the relationship between these compounds and the above activities were also investigated. The results showed that the Lemon balm had the highest phenolic content (56.5% mg g) and the phenolic content of Oregano was twice lower than Lemon balm. Lemon balm has the highest antioxidant activity which causes lipid peroxidation inhibition activity of linoleic acid (90.5%), this activity was more than ?-tocopherole antioxidant activity (79.3 %). It was found that the main source of antioxidant activity of these plants was belonging to phenolic compounds and the results proved the strong relationship between antioxidant activity and phenolic content. The ethanolic extract of Lemon balm was exhibited strong antibacterial activity ,the inhibition included all bacterial isolates , with highest inhibition zone against Bacillus cereus ( 26 mm), while Oregano did not exhibit clear antibacterial activity, Aeromonas hydrophila was the most resistant isolate . It was obvious from the results of effect of phenolic compounds on bacteria that no relationship between antibacterial activity and phenolic content and the inhibition may be due to other compounds

The Relationship between Nutritional Status and Anthropometric Measurements of Preschool Children in a Sierra Leonean Clay Factory Displaced Camp

Weight is a sensitive index for the evaluation of nutritional status of preschool children, particularly where their precise ages are known. Regrettably in Sierra Leone there are no known local standards of weight of preschool children and their ages are most times difficult to obtain. Thus weight alone cannot be the most suitable index in the evaluation of the nutritional status of preschool children in Sierra Leone. Thus the current study was undertaken to determine the relative merits of anthropometric measurements commonly used in nutrition survey for the evaluation of the nutritional status of preschool children in the clay factory displaced camp. Three hundred and six (306) children of both sexes aged 1-5 years were classified into three groups: Normal, protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) and vitamin deficiency (VD). The relative importance of the various anthropometric measurements was assessed in these three categories of children through comparison of their mean values and correlation coefficients. A close relationship was observed between the severity of PEM on the one hand and weight, weight-height ratio and mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) on the other. The indices weight and weight-height ratio were found to be very sensitive in the assessment of nutritional status of the children. Moreover, these indices showed a close association with other measurements. It was concluded that the weight-height ratio which is independent of age, is the most suitable index for the detection of early cases of PEM in our environment. Keywords: Nutritional status, Protein-Energy malnutrition, Vitamin deficiency, Preschool children, Weight-Height Ratio and Mid-upper arm circumference

Brand Loyalty and the Mediating Roles of Brand Image and Customer Satisfaction

In the present competitive era, firms can’t develop and maintain a competitive edge based on physical features. Therefore, most firms use intangible aspects like brand image, which enhances customer satisfaction and promotes a sustainable relationship with customers. Given its importance, most firms focus on building and maintaining their brand image. Because of its importance, we have developed a conceptual framework that has five direct relationships and three indirect relationships. The scope of the study was focused on the branded apparel industry (J.dot). The questionnaire was administered to private universities of Karachi. We contacted 400 respondents, and 387 responded. We found that brand image does not affect brand loyalty, which is inconsistent with earlier studies. On the contrary, we found that customer satisfaction and perceived quality is positively associated with brand loyalty. Brand image and perceived quality affect customer satisfaction and brand image. Moreover, brand image does not mediate the perceived quality and brand loyalty relationship. However, customer satisfaction mediates the brand image and brand loyalty relationship. The implication for the marketers was drawn from the results. This study was limited to the J.dot apparel brand. Future studies can be carried out in other domains. The study was restricted to one city. Future studies may extend it to other cities and other countries. A comparative review may bring further insight into the brand-related elements.Keywords: Brand image, brand loyalty, perceived quality, customer satisfaction

Earnings Quality and Firm Performance: Exploring the Moderating Role Managerial Ability

This study modifies the relationship between company performance and earnings quality using managerial ability. 50 South Asian manufacturing corporations' secondary data from 2014–2021.The study found that managerial ability boosts firm performance. Lower-performing firms also have lower earnings quality regression coefficients on cash flows than higher-performing firms.These findings show that low-performing companies are more likely than high-performing ones to boost earnings (i.e. increase their efforts to manage earnings). Managerial ability also boosts firms' performance's impact on earnings quality

Influence of Changes of Land Cover Types on The Surface Temperature Distribution for Al- Najaf City Using Remote Sensing Data.

This study has been carried out to assesses the relationship between land surface temperatures (LST) and changes of land cover (LC) for a part of Najaf Governorate, by using Landsat TM/ETM+ data over the period from1990 to 2009. Landsat TM/ETM+ images have been acquired for deriving the land use/land cover (LULC) maps and land surface temperatures (LST) for two different dates afterwards analysis their temporal and spatial variations. (LST) maps have been derived from thermal infrared (TIR) bands of Landsat TM/ETM+ data according to Plancks function. Satellite images for 1990, and 2009 have been classified into four classes (building up, vegetation, bare land, and water bodies) based on the supervised classification by using Maximum Likelihood algorithm. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI) have been calculated from both the original image in order to extract a particular (LC) for study area. The results of study showed that built-up area increased from 22.1% to 41.8 % between 1990 and 2009, while vegetations, bare land and water bodies decreased from 57.5% to 39.9% , 16.9% to 15.3% , and 3.5% to 3% respectively , due to urbanization that resulted from growing of urban population and economic evolution, . In general the negative correlation between LST and NDVI confirm that the reduction in vegetarian cover to built-up would lead to increase in (LST). Whereas the positive correlation between LST and NDBI implying that the increasing built-up land can increase (LST). The results indicated that the stronger negative correlations between LST and NDVI (R2=0.918) was in 2009 year , and the stronger positive correlation between LST and NDBI (R2=0.909) was in 2009. The results showed that the maximum temperature in study area increased from 32 áµ’C in 1990 to 37áµ’C in 1990 .This research has been confirmed the strong influence of changes in (LC) on (LST)

Natural Arabic language text understanding

The most challenging part of natural language understanding is the representation of meaning. The current representation techniques are not sufficient to resolve the ambiguities, especially when the meaning is to be used for interrogation at a later stage. Arabic language represents a challenging field for Natural Language Processing (NLP) because of its rich eloquence and free word order, but at the same time it is a good platform to capture understanding because of its rich computational, morphological and grammar rules. Among different representation techniques, Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG) theory is found to be best suited for this task because of its structural approach. LFG lays down a computational approach towards NLP, especially the constituent and the functional structures, and models the completeness of relationships among the contents of each structure internally, as well as among the structures externally. The introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques, such as knowledge representation and inferencing, enhances the capture of meaning by utilising domain specific common sense knowledge embedded in the model of domain of discourse and the linguistic rules that have been captured from the Arabic language grammar. This work has achieved the following results: (i) It is the first attempt to apply the LFG formalism on a full Arabic declarative text that consists of more than one paragraph. (ii) It extends the semantic structure of the LFG theory by incorporating a representation based on the thematic-role frames theory. (iii) It extends to the LFG theory to represent domain specific common sense knowledge. (iv) It automates the production process of the functional and semantic structures. (v) It automates the production process of domain specific common sense knowledge structure, which enhances the understanding ability of the system and resolves most ambiguities in subsequent question-answer sessions

Study of gold-based alloy phase diagrams

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The partial constitutions of the Au-Ge-X and Au-Pb-X ternary alloys have been investigated, where X is a metallic element, selected from the sub-groups period 1m and rrm of the periodic table (In, Ga, Zn, or Cd), which forms one or more stable compounds with gold, but which forms no stable compound with Ge and Pb. The Smith Thermal Analysis Method, supplemented by metallographic and X-ray techniques, was used to determine the constitutions of the ternary systems. Eutectiferous, pseudobinary systems were found between Ge and the stable congruent intermediate compounds, AuIn, Auln2' AuGa, AuGa2' AuZn and AuCd. The solubility of Ge in the AuX compounds was not determined directly. However, it was 1.3 at.% Ge for Zn and Cd containing alloys and less than 1.0 at. % Ge for In and Ga containing alloys at the eutectic temperatures, which is in accordance with the Hume-Rothery rule. Ternary eutectic points were also determined in the Auln-AuIn2-Ge, Auln2-In-Ge and AuGa-AuGa2-Ge partial ternary systems. No evidence of liquid immiscibility was found in any of these ternary systems. The experimental results obtained were in good agreement with computed features of the diagrams. However, pseudobinary systems were not found between Pb and the stable congruent melting intermediate compounds, AuGa, AuGa2, AuZn and AuCd (the AuIn-Pb and AuIn2-Pb sections had already been investigated). The evidence of an extensive liquid immiscibility was found in each of these systems. The miscibility in the liquid state was found to decrease progressively down group IV when the elements of this group react with AuX compounds, which can be attributed to the progressive increase of the atomic size and decrease in electronegativities and solubility parameters of the elements, down this group. Two rules were derived to relate the liquid immiscibility/miscibility of ternary systems. One of the rules based upon the atomic sizes and melting points of the constituent elements showed a fair agreement with many systems. However, the other rule based upon the solubility parameter and electronegativities of the constituent elements showed good agreement with immiscible systems, but gave a poor predictability for miscible systems. The lower temperature equilibria of the Au-rich portion of the Au-Sn binary phase diagram are not well defined. So, long term heat treatment of samples at appropriate temperatures and compositions was carried out. Optical microscopy and SEMIEDAX techniques were employed and hence the low temperature equilibria of the Au-Sn binary system have been amended.This study is partly funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of Pakistan for the S & T scholarship award and Punjab University, Lahore

Medical errors related to look-alike and sound-alike drugs

Despite recent developments in the inventory management, introduction of electronic drug trolleys and cabinets, color coding of the filled syringes and many more interventions, medication errors could not be eliminated. The most common of these are syringe swap and human errors regarding wrong drug administration due to look-alike drug containers or sound-alike names of the drugs belonging to diverse groups. Many of the fatalities, that occur in third world countries due to these causes, go unnoticed and unregistered. This special article complements two special editorials on the same topic by Professor Joseph D. Tobias et al and Professor Robert Stoelting, a case report, a patient’s perspective and a ‘Cliniquiz’ being published in the current issue of the journal. It discusses salient features of this issue as well as preventive measures and recommendations. Key words: Medications; Medications errors; Adverse drug events; Look-alike drugs; Sound-alike drugs Tall man lettering; Medication Errors Reporting Program; Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation Citation: Ismail S and Taqi A. Medical errors related to look-alike and sound-alike drug