COUNTERACTING MOBBING IN THE PROBATION SERVICE

This article discusses the issues related to the possible causes of mobbing in the professional group of probation officers and the issues of tasks and activities of the probation officer employer in situations related to the phenomenon of mobbing in the probation officer service. Due to the special position of probation in the administration of justice, the author focuses on the tasks of presidents of regional and district courts aimed at counteracting the phenomenon of mobbing. It refers to activities that seem advisable in the event of the initiation of appropriate proceedings and remedial actions in the event of confirmation of mobbing. The issue of mobbing in the probation service has not been covered by a broader analysis so far. The aim of this study was to indicate the tasks incumbent on the presidents of courts as persons performing the tasks of the employer towards the probation officer, related to counteracting the phenomenon of mobbing. It cannot be ruled out that the variety and specificity of tasks entrusted to probation officers, the nature of these tasks and the structure of the location of this group in the structure of the judiciary may cause doubts as to the implementation of tasks related to counteracting mobbing.

Continuous Improvement in the IMSE Program of Kuwait University

Continuous improvement of an engineering program is essential and a critical process. Development and implementation of such a process is not only required by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), but it is also a necessary condition for the maturation and development of any engineering program. This paper describes the process employed by the Industrial and Management Systems Engineering (IMSE) program at Kuwait University to continuously improve its program. The employed process includes identification of the lowest score among the seven student outcomes specified by ABET. Next, the courses in the IMSE curriculum addressing this student outcome are identified, and the instructors teaching these courses took remedial actions. In the following semesters, this outcome was measured, and it was found that there is a significant improvement on this outcome. Other engineering programs can benefit from the process described in this paper.

The Binding Nature of the Ombudsman’s Remedial Actions in Lesotho: Lessons from South Africa

The Constitution of Lesotho is regarded as liberal, with the separation of powers of the executive, judiciary and legislature, but provision was made for institutions to oversee the exercise of such powers. One of these is the Office of the Ombudsman, which has wide-ranging powers to investigate malpractice in public administration and to make recommendations for remedial action. These powers notwithstanding, there is a paucity of judicial precedent and scholarship on the binding nature of the remedial action of the Ombudsman. The main question is whether the remedial action of the Ombudsman is binding, which this article seeks to investigate and determine whether South African jurisprudence could be helpful in the case of Lesotho. The binding nature of the Public Protector’s remedial action under the Constitution of South Africa has been a subject of considerable judicial and scholarly engagement in recent times. While the subject is still yet to be settled in South Africa, it nevertheless has developed principles that could assist in both the interpretation and reform of the Ombudsman’s powers in Lesotho.

Outside the Box: Innovative Application of Diversion as a Replacement for Bridge Plug

Effective stage-to-stage isolation is typically accomplished by setting a bridge plug in a properly cemented casing between stages. This isolation plays a vital role in a horizontal well multistage fracturing completion. Failure of isolation not only impacts the well productivity but also wastes fracturing materials. The challenges isolation failure poses for stimulation effectiveness include both detection and remediation. First, there has been historically no reliable and cost-effective solution to detect stage-to-stage isolation onsite. One may only start to realize this problem when inconsistent production is observed. Second, existing remedial actions are seldom satisfying in case of an isolation failure. Most commonly, a new plug is set to replace the failed one. However, because the perforation clusters of an unstimulated stage may create irregularities in well inside diameter (ID) (e.g., casing deformation or burr), there is a risk that the plug will be damaged or become stuck when it passes the perforation area. Also, when the plug passes a perforation cluster, the perforations start to take in the pump-down fluid, which can increase the difficulty of the pump-down job. A novel remedial action uses high-frequency pressure monitoring (HFPM) and diversion to solve both challenges. The stage isolation integrity is evaluated in quasi-real time by analyzing the water hammer after the pump shutdown. In the case of a plug failure, large-particle fracture diversion materials and techniques can establish temporary wellbore isolation through a quick and simple delivery process. To close the cycle, the effect of the diversion can be evaluated by HFPM, which can reveal the fluid entry point of the treatment fluid after diversion. The technique was applied to two cases in Ordos basin in which wellbore isolation failure interrupted the operation. The problem identification, development of the solution workflow, and observation from treatment analysis are discussed. In both cases, the stage-to-stage isolation was recovered, and the drilled sand body was successfully stimulated without involving costly and time-consuming well intervention. The stimulation operation of the entire well was successfully resumed in a timely manner.

A screening checklist to minimize the adverse effects of cosmetic dermatological procedures; a short paper (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Cosmetic dermatological procedures which are aimed at enhancing the external appearance have troublesome yet preventable adverse effects. At present, there is a lack of a comprehensive screening guideline to detect patients with risk factors for such adverse effects. OBJECTIVE To introduce a comprehensive screening checklist to pick up the patients’ risk factors in advance, in order to prevent or minimize adverse effects from cosmetic dermatological procedures. METHODS The checklist was administered to 1150 patients attending an outpatient dermatology clinic for cosmetic dermatological procedures. Checklist composed of 30 ‘yes/no’ type questions and 7 other components in the pre-procedure workup. RESULTS Except for two risk factors (being pregnant and having a pacemaker inserted), all other assessed possible risk factors were present in one or more patients who attended for procedures. The most prevalent risk factor was the current use of medications in 226 (19.65%) patients. The other commonly found risk factors were: lack of full understanding of the procedure (14.52%) and phobia/fear of injections (9.30%). CONCLUSIONS The screening checklist that we used is a simple yet comprehensive tool for minimizing the possible adverse effects of cosmetic dermatological procedures. We were able to postpone, take remedial actions or alter the cosmetic dermatological procedures after going through the checklist and increase patient satisfaction and improve the safety of the doctor as well. CLINICALTRIAL Not applicable

High Definition Acoustic and Temperature Logging for the Diagnosis of Complex Annuli Leaks and Communication

Maintaining annuli integrity is critical for safe and optimized well operations. Monitoring of tubing casing annulus (TCA) and casing-casing annulus (CCA) pressures is mandatory as it gives a direct indication of possible seal or tubular failures that may lead to a negative impact on HSE or well production. In cases where the observed annuli pressures suggest leaks and possible communication between tubing and TCA or TCA and CCA, a comprehensive plan should be put in place to detect and evaluate the possible leak sources and paths that will allow for proper remedial actions. Logging techniques using spectral noise logging (SNL), and high precision temperature Logging (HPT) are one way to diagnose the source of a leak and communication path between 2 adjacent casings (for example TCA and CCA). The operation is performed by running the HPT and SNL log under shut in conditions to establish a base line, followed by logging under dynamic conditions. Dynamic conditions can include bleeding off the TCA pressure while all other annuli and tree valves are shut-in and injecting into the tubing-casing annulus while bleeding off the CCA. The dynamic passes aim to activate the leak points. The SNL and HPT will capture the corresponding temperature and Spectral noise events revealed by the fluid flow though the leak points. These are compared to the base line shut in logs. The SNL is run in stations and can capture noise generated by fluid movement in a wide range of strength (decibels) and frequency within a wide scanning radius, while HPT can capture minor temperature changes of 0.02 Deg F. The paper will discuss an example where the HPT and SNL were run along with a set of conventional sensors such as GR, CCL, and pressure in a HPHT gas well to diagnose leak points and a possible communication path between the TCA and CCA. The Logging operation was carried out rig-less with minimum intervention using wire line under the shut in and dynamic conditions. Spectral noise logging precisely captured the leak points and drew a clear picture of the casing integrity breaches in multiple points. The results of the diagnostics and evaluation will now be used to design the appropriate remedial actions required to restore the well to the desired condition for production.

Do negative events really have deteriorating effects on stock performance? A comparative study on Tesla (US) and Nio (China)

PurposeBoth investors and the stock markets are believed to behave in a perfectly rational manner, where investors focus on utility maximization and are not subjected to cognitive biases or any information processing errors. However, it has been discovered that the sentiment of the social mood has a significant impact on the stock market. This study aims to analyze how did the protest event of Tesla happened in April 2021 have a significant effect on the company's stock performance as well as its competitors, Nio, under the competitive effect.Design/methodology/approachThe research is based on time series data collected from Tesla and Nio by employing 10 days, 15 days and 20 days anticipation and adjustment period for the event study. This study employed a text sentiment analysis to identify the polarity of the sentiment of the protest event using the Microsoft Azure machine learning tool which utilizes MPQA subjective lexicon.FindingsThe findings provide further evidence to show that a company-specific negative event has deteriorating effects on its stock performance, while having an opposite effect on its competitors.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper argues that negative sentiments through social media word of mouth (SWOM) affect the stock market not just in the short run but potentially in the longer run. Such negative sentiments might create a snowball effect which causes the market to further scrutinize a company's operations and possibly lose confidence in the company.Originality/valueThis study explores how the Tesla's protest event at Shanghai Auto Show 2021 has a significant impact on Tesla's stock performance and prolonged negative impact although Tesla implemented immediate remedial actions. The remedial actions were not accepted positively and induced a wave of negative news which had a more persistent effect.

Heuristic remedial actions in the reliability assessment of high voltage direct current networks

<p>Planning of high voltage direct current (HVDC) grids requires inclusion of reliability assessment of alternatives under study. This paper proposes a methodology to evaluate the adequacy of voltage source converter/VSC-HVDC networks. The methodology analyses the performance of the system using N-1 and N-2 contingencies in order to detect weaknesses in the DC network and evaluates two types of remedial actions to keep the entire system under the acceptable operating limits. The remedial actions are applied when a violation of these limits on the DC system occurs; those include topology changes in the network and adjustments of power settings of VSC converter stations. The CIGRE B4 DC grid test system is used for evaluating the reliability/adequacy performance by means of the proposed methodology in this paper. The proposed remedial actions are effective for all contingencies; then, numerical results are as expected. This work is useful for planning and operation of grids based on VSC-HVDC technology.</p>