Cage culture of tilapia in some water resources (farm and agriculture ponds) of Bafq, Iran

Tilapia is the second cultured fish in the world. Up to 135 countries produces tilapia. Intensive culture systems of tilapia such as cage culture are recently developed because of limitations of water resources. In Iran, studies about tilapia were started in National Research Center of Saline Water Aquatics from November 2008 and some aspects of tilapia aquaculture and culture systems are surveyed. Investigation about cage culture of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus was performed in two culture periods of 2012 and 2014 in fresh and brackish water conditions of Iran for the first time. Stocking densities of fish in the cages were 25, 50, 75, 100, 125 and 150 fish/m^3. 100g fish stocked reached 272-331 g during 80 days in the first study. However, 50g fish stocked reached 329-450 g during 145 days in the second study. Results of cage culture of tilapia in fresh and brackish water conditions showed ranges of FCR: 1.56-3.72 and 1.08-1.87, DGR: 1.63-2.91 and 2.14-2.92 g/day, SGR: 0.63-1.12 and 1.29-1.54, production: 5.98-38 and 7.17-41.6 kg/m^3, respectively. Stocking densities 75-125 fish/ m^3 were appropriate especially in fish reared in brackish water cages

Nursing physical workload and mental workload in intensive care units: Are they related?

Aim In order to ensure patient safety and quality of care, it is important to consider factors which may impact on nursing workloads. This study aimed to investigate the simultaneous physical and mental workload and any relationships between these concepts on nurses working in intensive care units. Design A cross‐sectional design was undertaken. Method Participants were nurses (N = 105) recruited from six adult intensive care units which met the inclusion criteria. Nursing Activities Score (NAS) to measure physical workload and NASA Task Load Index (NASA‐TLX) to measure mental workload were used. Data were collected for each participating nurse in three shifts (morning, evening and night). Data were analysed using bivariate correlation and multivariable linear regression analysis. Results The mean (SD) of nurses' physical and mental workload was 72.84% (22.07%) and 70.21 (12.36), respectively. A significant relationship between physical and mental workload (p <.001) was identified

Evaluation of knowledge and attitude of students of Kashan University of medical sciences about food hygiene and storage

Food hygiene measures and its proper maintenance during distribution, purchase, and consumption are important principles to prevent food-borne infections in consumers. The aim of this study was to evaluate knowledge and attitude of students of medical sciences of Kashan University about food hygiene and storage.This cross-sectional study was conducted on 286 male and female students. Data obtained through questionnaires containing questions on demographic data as well as knowledge and attitudes to food hygiene and storage. The results showed that mean knowledge and attitude scores of the students about food hygiene and maintenance were 62.23±13.53% and 2.37±0.41%, respectively. The knowledge score between male students was significantly more than females (

The role of modeling and consequence evaluation in improving safety level of industrial hazardous installations: A case study: Hydrogen production unit

Background and aims: One of the most essential and important steps for improving safety level in existing or designing units is consequence evaluation of hazards such as fire, explosion and dispersion of hazardous chemical substances. Due to severe operational conditions, high explosive and flammable gases such as methane and hydrogen, hydrogen production process is causing major industrial accidents of the view life and financial losses. Therefore safety is main concern of hydrogen producers. Methods: First, all hazards and potential scenarios of hydrogen production were identified by applying HAZID Technique, and after collecting the required data, consequence modeling was done by means of professional software PHAST6.54. Death probability of people by means of valid equations of probit was calculated and ultimately, the severity of the consequences was estimated using conventional criteria. Results: The results revealed that, jet fire caused by a full bore rupture in Desulphurization reactor has the highest fatality (26person). The harm effect distance, maximum radiations of this incident were 250 m, 370 kW/m2 respectively. A full bore rupture in Reformer can lead to the most dangerous flash fire. So that people at distance up 130 m from placing leakage and affected area 1505m 2 were exposed to concentration of 61120 ppm and all people would be killed. The most dangerous vapor cloud explosion caused by hydrogen purification absorbers, so that distances up to 60m from absorbers location all people would be killed and all process equipments and buildings will be completely destroyed. The safe distance of hydrogen production unit equals to 746 m from its boundary limit. Conclusion: Consequence evaluation is a quantitative and comprehensive method for estimation and evaluation of potential incidents severity of industrial hazardous units. The occurrence of incidents such as fires and explosions has the great life and financial losses in the hydrogen production process, Thus safety of industries nearby hydrogen production and consume must be specifically considered

Development and Psychometrics of "Safety Climate Assessment Questionnaire"

Background and Aims: Eighty five percent of accidents can be attributed to unsafe acts. Eighty five to ninety eight percent of workplace injuries caused by unsafe acts are due to attitude, behavior and culture. Safety climate is a multi-dimensional structure that describes the attitude and the correct priority of the people towards the safety at work. To assess safety climate, a valid and reliable tool is needed. The aim of this study was developing a psychometric questionnaire to assess safety climate in Iran.Materials and Methods: Using safety literature and other safety climate questionnaire, a 96-item questionnaire was provided. Face validity, content validity ratio and index, construct validity, internal consistency reliability and test-retest reliability were investigated on 550 industrial employees .After validity index survey 43 items questionnaire were obtained. Principal factors were extracted using exploratory factor analysis by Varimax rotation method. To check the reliability of the questionnaire, Cronbach's alpha coefficients and Pearson correlation coefficient was used.Results: For the face validity, CVR(78.5%) and CVI(0.75) related to safety climate designed questionnaire to be acceptable, eleven factors were extracted that covered 58.85 percent of total variance. Cronbach's alpha for most factors more than 0.7 were calculated and Spearman coefficient showed significant correlation between test and retest results.Conclusion: The Safety "Climate Assessment Questionnaire" which has been designed for 43 items and 11 factors has appropriate validity and reliability and can be used to assess the safety climate.REFERENCES           1.     Wiegmann DA, von Thaden TL, Gibbons AM. A review of safety culture theory and its potential application to traffic safety. Improving Traffic Safety Culture in the United States. 2007:113.2.     Heinrich HW, Granniss E. Industrial accident prevention. New York: McGraw-Hill 1959.3.     Dilley H, Kleiner BH. Creating a culture of safety. Work study. 1996;45(3):5-8.4.     Zohar D. Safety climate in industrial organizations: theoretical and applied implications. J Appl Psychol. 1980;65(1):96-110.5.     Cavazza N, Serpe A. Effects of safety climate on safety norm violations: exploring the mediating role of attitudinal ambivalence toward personal protective equipment. J Saf Res. 2009;40(4):277-83.6.     Dedobbeleer N, Béland F. A safety climate measure for construction sites. J Saf Res. 1991;22(2):97-103.7.     Cheyne A, Cox S, Oliver A, Tomás JM. Modelling safety climate in the prediction of levels of safety activity. Work &amp; Stress. 1998;12(3):255-71.8.     Mearns K, Whitaker S, Flin R, Gordon R, O’Connor P. Factoring the human into safety: Translating research into practice. Industrial Psychological Group. 2000:1-158.9.     Vinodkumar M, Bhasi M. Safety climate factors and its relationship with accidents and personal attributes in the chemical industry. Saf Sci. 2009;47(5):659-67.10.   Smith GS, Huang YH, Ho M, Chen PY. The relationship between safety climate and injury rates across industries: The need to adjust for injury hazards. Accid Anal &amp; Prev. 2006;38(3):556-62.11.   Griffin MA, Neal A. Perceptions of safety at work: a framework for linking safety climate to safety performance, knowledge, and motivation. J Occup Health Psychol. 2000;5(3):347-56.12.   Cooper MD, Phillips RA. Exploratory analysis of the safety climate and safety behavior relationship. J saf res. 2004;35(5):497-512.13.   DeJoy DM, Schaffer BS, Wilson MG, Vandenberg RJ, Butts MM. Creating safer workplaces: assessing the determinants and role of safety climate. J Saf Res. 2004;35(1):81-90.14.   Evans B, Glendon AI, Creed PA. Development and initial validation of an Aviation Safety Climate Scale. J Saf Res. 2007;38(6):675-82.15.   Flin R, Mearns K, O'Connor P, Bryden R. Measuring safety climate: identifying the common features. Saf sci. 2000;34(1-3):177-92.16.   Hahn SE, Murphy LR. A short scale for measuring safety climate. Saf Sci. 2008;46(7):1047-66.17.   Johnson SE. The predictive validity of safety climate. J Saf Res. 2007;38(5):511-21.18.   Kudo Y, Satoh T, Kido S, Watanabe M, Miki T, Miajima E, et al. A pilot study testing the dimensions of safety climate among Japanese nurses. Ind Health. 2008;46(2):158-65.19.   Ma Q, Yuan J. Exploratory study on safety climate in Chinese manufacturing enterprises. Saf Sci. 2009;47(7):1043-60.20.   Ali TH. Influence of national culture on construction safety climate in Pakistan: Griffith University; 2006.21.   Johnson RA, Wichern DW. Applied multivariate statistical analysis: Prentice hall Upper Saddle River, NJ; 2002.22.   Hosseini Nodeh Z, Hosseini M, Yaghmaei F, Alavi Majd H, Jabbari M. Correlation between population characteristics and safety attitude to work of women workers in food factories. Journal of Health Promotion Management. 2012;1(3):64-72..23.   Hassanzadeh Rangi N, Allahyari T, Khosravi Y, Zaeri F, Saremi M. Development of an Occupational Cognitive Failure Questionnaire (OCFQ): Evaluation validity and reliability. Iran Occupational Health Journal. 2012;9(1):29-40.24.   Vakili MM, Hidarnia AR, Niknami S. Development and Psychometrics of an Interpersonal Communication Skills Scale (ASMA) among Zanjan Health Volunteers. Hayat. 2012;18(1):5-19.25.   Owens ML. The Effect of Safety Climate, Teamwork, and Sustainable Motivation on Nurse Job Satisfaction and Intent to Stay. 2012.26.   Neal A, Griffin MA, Hart PM. The impact of organizational climate on safety climate and individual behavior. Saf sci. 2000;34(1-3):99-109.27.   Jones AP, James LR. Psychological climate: Dimensions and relationships of individual and aggregated work environment perceptions. 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Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Disorders and Related Risk Factors among the Water-Counter Manufacturer Workers

Aims Musculoskeletal disorders are common occupational hazards and disabilities in developing countries. This study was to assess postures and determine musculoskeletal disorders in employees of a water flow meter manufacturing factory in Iran. Materials & Methods In this descriptive analytical study that was done among workers of Iran Ensheab Factory from Water-Counter Manufacturing industry in Qom province in 2013, 85 workers from different departments were selected by objective sampling method. Demographic data of the workers like age, sex, period of work experience, weight and height were recorded in a checklist and “Rapid Upper Limb Assessment” approach and Nordic questionnaire were used for data gathering. Data analysis was done by SPSS 16 software using independent T and Chi-square tests. Findings There was a significant correlation between musculoskeletal disorders and movement postures of shoulder, lumbar, pelvic and knee. There were significant correlation between work experience (p<0.05) and unit of working (p<0.05) and musculoskeletal disorders. Conclusion Most of the workers of water-counter manufacturing industry are from level 2 according to “Rapid Upper Limb Assessment” approach and lumbar disorders are the most prevalent work-related musculoskeletal disorders

Correlation between Occupational Stress and Burnout in Rehabilitation Center Employees of Kashan, Iran

Aims Stress is considered as a psychological phenomenon that inflicts human beings in the modern societies. Burnout is a psychological or behavioral state which occurs as individual’s performance quality deteriorates. This study aimed to investigate the level of burnout and occupational stress in Kashan rehabilitating centers staffs. Materials & Methods This descriptive study was done on all 298 nurse assistants of Kashan rehabilitation centers in 2013. Data collected using “Health and Safety Executive Questionnaire (HSE)” and “Maslach burnout inventory (MBI)”. Data were analyzed by the Excel and SPSS 16 software. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to assess relationship between stress dimension and occupation burnout factors. Findings The average of occupational stress was 3.65±0.51 and the average of burnout was 29.67±4.38. Occupational groups had no significant correlation with occupational stress (p=0.86) but had a significant correlation with burnout (p=0.006). There were significant positive correlations between occupational stress parameters and burnout parameters. Just the peer support of occupational stress had no correlations with success, emotional exhaustion and general burnout. Conclusion Deterioration of stressful parameters in occupational environment can mitigate damaging effects of burnout syndromes

Analyzing the Risk of Fire in a Hospital Complex by “Fire Risk Assessment Method for Engineering”(FRAME)

Aims The occurrence of fire in residential buildings, commercial complexes and large and small industries cause physical, environmental and financial damages to many different communities. Fire safety in hospitals is sensitive and it is believed that the society takes the responsibility to care sick people. The goal of this study was to use Fire Risk Assessment Method for Engineering (FRAME) in a hospital complex environment and assess the level of fire risks. Materials & Methods This descriptive study was conducted in Kashan Shahid Beheshti hospital in 2013. The FRAME is designed based on the empirical and scientific knowledge and experiment and have acceptable reliability for assessing the building fire risk. Excel software was used to calculate the risk level and finally fire risk (R) was calculated separately for different units. Findings Calculated Rs were less than 1for health, autoclave, office of nursing and infection control units. R1s were greater than 1 for all units. R2s were less than 1 for office of nursing and infection control units. Conclusion FRAME is an acceptable tool for assessing the risk of fire in buildings and the fire risk is high in Shahid Beheshti Hospital Complex of Kashan and damages can be intolerable in the case of fire

Smoking Frequency and some Related Factors among High School Students of Kashan City, Iran

Aims The dramatic increase of smoking in adolescents has become one of the major challenges in most countries and it needs further consideration. The aim of this study was to determine the smoking prevalence and some related factors among high school students. Instrument & Methods This descriptive, cross-sectional study was done in 2012-13 academic year in male and female high school students of Kashan City, Iran and 328 students were selected by multi-stage random cluster sampling method. Data were collected by a researcher-made questionnaire which had three parts; demographic data, history of smoking in the family, and ways of smoking. Data analysis was done using Chi-square and ANOVA tests. Findings 19.3% (52 students) of the high school students of Kashan City, Iran, were smokers; 41 boys (20.2%) and 11 girls (8.8%). Smoking had significant relations with sex, grade and having a smoker in the family. 30.3% of the students had a cigarette smoker and 32.40% had a hookah smoker in their family. Hookah was the most prevalent tobacco product. Friends (47.8% in boys and 10.4% in girls) and then relatives (13.4% in boys and 8.2% in girls) contributed to students’ smoking. Conclusion Smoking hookah and cigarette have a high prevalence in sophomore and junior high school boys and having a smoker family member or friend is a main risk factor of start smoking in adolescents