The Relationship between Social Capital and Nurses’ Performance in Hospitals of Mashhad City, Iran

Introduction: One of the most important issues that managers are facing is the improvement of their staffs’ performance that could improve and increase the productivity of the organization. This study was performed with the purpose of determining the relation between social capital and the nurses’ performance in the Hospitals of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. Methods: This is an applied and Cross-sectional study performed in 2012. The statistical population included 320 employed nurses of the hospitals of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. Data were collected using social capital measuring questionnaires designed by the author. The questionnaires were scientifically confirmed and had the Reliability of 84% using Cronbach’s Alpha Test. Data were analyzed using the Spearman test. Results: A significant and direct relationship was found between social capital and 5 of its components (social participation, mutual trust and reciprocity, social networks and perception of the environment) and nurses performance in the mentioned hospitals (p<0.001). Conclusion: managers can improve their staff’s performance and their motivations by recognizing and developing the social capital. Therefore it is suggested that efforts should be made in improving the components of social capital in hospitals, which are one of the most important organizations in providing services

Forecast Model of Sugar Loss Due to Mechanical Harvesting of the sugarcane crop

Abstract: mechanical harvesting brings about a great advantage to a cane grower. Time saving and cost reduction are important merits, but the mechanical harvesting becomes harmful whenever it is applied under unsuitable conditions. Namely, Long delay in milling of the harvested billets during mechanical harvesting of the sugarcane crops will cause loss of the juice from the torn cells, commencement of the respiration and enzymatic processes in the living tissues of the billet in abrasion and failure points and ultimately reducing the purity and sugar content of the juice due to sucrose inversion. The aim of the present research, having been carried out in Khuzestan Amirkabir Agro-industry Unit sugarcane farms, was estimating the sugar loss and quality degradation of the billets resulting from mechanical harvesting. For predicting the sugar loss, a regression model including explanatory dummy (qualitative) and quantitative variables was used. Quantitative explanatory variables included eight interval times of 30 minutes, 6,12,18,24,36,48 and 72 hours between harvesting and milling of the sugarcane. Qualitative explanatory variables were billets with four grades of damage, i.e. sound, light, medium and heavy damages and the dependent variable was the cane billets&apos; reducing sugar ratio. Results showed that more than 92% of the reducing sugar ratio changes is described by different damage degrees of the cane billets and the interval time between the harvesting and milling in cane mill. It was inferred from the results of the qualitative data that medium and heavy mechanical damages of the cane billets are the most important factors in sugar loss and declining the quantity of the refined sugar during the harvesting and post harvesting time; so that a comparison between the medium and heavy damaged billets&apos; regressions from the one hand and the base regression (sound billets) from the other, shows a statically significant differential slope coefficient for the two types of billets

Deprotonation of salicylic acid and 5-nitrosalicylic acid in aqueous solutions of ethanol

The protonation constant values of two hydroxybenzoic acids (salicylic and 5-nitrosalicylic acid) were studied in some water-ethanol solutions using spectrophotometric and potentiometric methods at 25°C and in an ionic strength of 0.1 M sodium perchlorate. The results indicated that the pKa values increase with increasing proportion of ethanol in mixed solvent. The dependence of the protonation constants on the variation of the solvent were correlated by the dielectric constants of the media. Furthermore, for a better understanding of the solvent influence, the obtained results were explained in terms of the Kamlet-Taft parameters α (hydrogen-bond donor acidity),

An efficient one-pot synthesis of highly substituted furans catalyzed by N-bromosuccinimide

N-Bromosuccinimide was found to efficiently catalyze the synthesis of highly functionalized, tetra-substituted furan derivatives in the one-pot reactions of but-2-ene-1,4-diones and acetoacetate esters in the presence of i-PrOH as solvent under mild and neutral conditions at 80–90 °C for 3–7 h in high yields (87–94 %)