Presenting a Framework of Re-engineering Methodology for Organizational Diagnosis and Process Improvement (Case Study: Industrial Estate Company of Kurdistan)

Nowadays organizations encounter serious challenges such as drastically changes in business  environments, increasing competitions, as well as expanding markets and different needs of customers, it seems that  having a deep conception of the current processes of organizations and enhance them is a must for both service and production companies to survive in such competitive  and complex environment. One of the modern approaches for improving organizational processes is business process reengineering. In this study, the current condition of Industrial Estates Company of Kurdistan (IECK) has been studied and the key processes of IECK concerning the industrial units have been determined. Then, the problems related to implementation of these processes have been identified through the comments of experts of the organization and industrial units which are settled in Industrial Estates, in addition to investigating the operation of these processes. Afterwards, those processes which have invoked the most dissatisfaction in customers or industry holders have been evaluated through business process reengineering (BPR) methodology; subsequently, some improvement methods have been proposed to remove, modify, review, and change these processes

The Evaluation Knowledge and Use of General Practitioners and Interns From Intubation with Medication

Aims: Among the main responsibilities of an intern and general practitioner is airway management in patients. This study, thus, aims to assess interns’ and general practitioners’ knowledge about endotracheal intubation. Materials & Methods: The studied cases involved physicians and interns responsible for and involved in intubation. Data was collected by a questionnaire developed based on experts’ comments asking about the respondents’ knowledge level. Findings: 78.65% of interns and 55% of GPs had average knowledge, 17.98% of interns and 18% of GPs had good knowledge, 3.37% of interns and 27% of GPs had poor knowledge. Conclusion: This can be helpful in emergency situations by the internes and general practitioners, and can be done by both of them. However, workshops and training courses are suggested to improve their performance and update their information

The effects of multimedia instruction of Quran on the learning and retention of students with mental special needs

The present research was conducted to investigate the instructional effects of Quran educational multimedia on the learning and retention of six grade male students with mental special needs in Arak. The research design of the study was a quasi-experimental, and the participants of the study were 18 students with mental special needs studying at the Noor special education center randomly assigned to two groups of nine. The experimental group was treated with multimedia instruction for two months (18 sessions each 45 minutes) while the control group received no treatment strategy. To assess the results, first a pretest was administered to both groups. After the pretest the experimental group received the treatment and after that a posttest was administered to both groups. The data were then analyzed with repeated measure ANOVA and multivariate variance analysis.Overall, the results of the analyses imply that although in both groups under study the level of learning and intake improved compared with the beginning, the second group which was exposed to multimedia instruction of Quran outperformed the other group with traditional instruction in the indices under investigation in this study.  Also, according to multivariate variance analysis, it was found that multimedia use in teaching Quran to students with mental special needs significantly improves the indices of reading the words part by part, reading, compared with the traditional methods

Job stress among Iranian firefighters: a systematic review

INTRODUCTION: Firefighters, as the first responders to disasters, are exposed to dangerous and stressful situations and experience high job stress due to the nature of their work, affecting various physical and mental health dimensions. The aim of this study was to assess job stress in Iranian firefighters by systematic review. MATERIAL AND METHODS: PRISMA guideline was used to conduct the present study. Data resources of SID, Magiran, Scopus, PubMed, ISC, Web of Science, and Google Scholar were searched. Conference papers and the reference list of retrieved articles were screened to identify additional studies. Literature searches were conducted in both Persian and English without any time limit until the end of 2020. RESULTS: Initially, 147 studies were identified, and finally 13 eligible studies were systematically reviewed. In this study, 2378 Iranian firefighters were studied. Most of the studies had cross-sectional designs. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the present study showed that most Iranian firefighters are exposed to job stress, influencing other life aspects such as quality of life, job satisfaction, etc. As appropriate interventions can reduce job stress, providing firefighters with adequate training at the beginning of employment and also with in-service training, it is possible to reduce their job stress

A Study of the Unsafe Actions of Staff in the Maintenance and Overhaul Unit at a Petrochemical Complex and the Presentation of Control Strategies

Background: Today, oil, gas, and petrochemical industries are of strategic significance in the macro-development of oil-rich countries. These industries, given the nature of the work and the technical complexity of the various processes, are hazardous and susceptible to occupational accidents. More than 90% of the accidents are related to the faults and unsafe actions of personnel, either directly or indirectly. Objectives: The aim of this study is to investigate the unsafe actions of staff working in the maintenance unit of a petrochemical complex. Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive and analytical study conducted on 167 morning-shift workers at the Mahshahr petrochemical complex. The data were collected based on a checklist of unsafe actions prepared through a direct observation of their activities and an analysis of work instructions, documents, and incident reports. SPSS statistical software was also used for data analysis and relevant testing. Results: According to the results of this study, the mean number of unsafe actions performed by the employees was 42%. The highest number of unsafe actions achieved in the maintenance mechanical unit was 52.8%, 47.1% in repair services, and 43.8% in machinery. The highest frequency of unsafe actions were caused by indiscretion and negligence, a failure to use a face shield and goggles, and non-compliance with safety principles. Conclusions: According to the findings, there has been a rise in the number of unsafe actions in machinery and maintenance service units compared to other maintenance units. As such, training courses based on the behavior-based safety principles at the beginning of employment, close monitoring of health safety environment (HSE) officials on the implementation of regulations, and provision of appropriate scheduling based on weather conditions and the nature of maintenance services are recommended. In addition, a refrainment from hastiness in performing duties, enhanced participation from the employees to improve occupational safety, and the production and distribution of high-quality personal protective equipment (PPE) is also recommended to mitigate unsafe actions. Keywords: Unsafe, Occupational, Incidents, Industr

Mapping the social values of ecosystem services to support better decision making

Social values of ecosystem services are the perceived benefits of natural ecosystems for the well-being of people. For sustainable land management, social values and preferences need to be integrated into land-use decision-making. Existing methods of social value capture commonly use participatory mapping and deliberative mapping. However, social media data has recently contributed to the gathering of spatial social value data. By reducing the time and cost of mapping, social media may be effective in social value mapping. However, the credibility of this data source has rarely been assessed for land planning. This thesis critically analysed the results of social media-based mapping (passive Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI)) and deliberative mapping (expert-based evaluation) methods into providing credible social value data (recreation, aesthetics, and historical/cultural values) for recreation planning. We analysed the content of 4642 photographs uploaded to Flickr as passive VGI and the results of an online survey and face to face interview for expert-based evaluation. This thesis found both the passive VGI and expert-based evaluation could identify all three types of relevant social values for ecosystem services (recreation, aesthetics, and historical/cultural). Passive VGI can provide reasonably reliable information on the recreational preferences of people at the time that data is provided. Although social values identified in expert-based evaluation included useful information about current public preferences and a potential supply of recreation ecosystem services, it only captured a general view of the study area. Large areas of interest were provided by each of the experts participating in the online survey. Several landscape units were missed by passive VGI while expert-based dataset overrepresented a majority of landscape units. The results of this research demonstrated that spatial social value data are limited when a single method is applied. Potential users of such data need to understand their limitations. Applying several mapping methods (PPGIS, expert-based evaluation, passive VGI, etc.) may create a more useful and credible social value dataset to appropriately support recreational planning.</p