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Heavy metals constitute one of the most hazardous substances that could be accumulated in biota coming from human activities such as agricultural and industrial wastes. This paper aims to study the levels of some of the most common heavy metals in muscles of the fish caught in the Karun River (Ahvaz, Iran) and to assess the health risks associated with their consumption.

In present study, the concentrations of three heavy metals (Pb, Cd and Cu) in the muscle of highly consumed fish species Ctenopharyngodon Idella (Cyprinidae) collected from three selected markets (Khoram Kooshk, Ahvaz-e Qadim and Padad Shahr; total number of samples was 45) in Ahvaz city and human health risk associated with their consumption were detected by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS).

The results indicated that the highest and lowest accumulated metal concentrations were related to Cu (20.36 ± 0.84) and Cd (0.53 ± 0.02), respectively. In addition, the mean difference for Pb and Cu across two pairwise of sampling sites were significant (Ahvaz-e Qadim and Khoram Kooshk, P for Pb = 0.025, P for Cu = 0.033; Ahvaz-e Qadim and Padad Shahr, p for Pb = 0.018, p for Cu = 0.039). The estimated daily intake of all metals in muscles of fish in this study were below the legal limit, and mean differences were not statistically significant among the sampling sites, except for Cu (Ahvaz-e Qadim and Khoram Kooshk, p = 0.048; Ahvaz-e Qadim and Padad Shahr, p = 0.041). Target hazard quotient values were also all below 1.

It can be concluded that the fishes from Ahvaz city markets are comparatively clean and do not constitute a risk for human health.

Education is a human right and access to high quality education is key to sustainable socioeconomic development. Improving the quality of higher education institutes is essential for generating the productive human resources. Assessing the quality of higher education from the students’ perspective can be considered a crucial factor in the monitoring of service quality in universities. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the quality of educational services in a higher education institute, the Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences (KUMS), in the west of Iran.

A multistage sampling method was used to select 346 students from the KUMS, who were enrolled in the second semester of the academic year 2015-2016. The SERVQUAL questionnaire was used to gather data on students’ perceptions and their expectations about the quality of educational services. The authors used a statistical significance level of 0.05 to examine the gap between the students’ expectations and their perceptions of service quality in five dimensions, namely tangibles, responsiveness, reliability, empathy and assurance.

The results showed that there was a negative service quality gap in all five dimensions. The overall mean score of students’ expectations and their perceptions was 3.19±0.44 and 2.4±0.45, respectively. The score gap between the overall mean score of perceptions and expectations of students was −0.79, which was statistically significant (p<0.0001). The highest and lowest quality gaps were related to the assurance (−0.84) and tangible (−0.70) dimensions, respectively.

The study indicated that the quality of educational services provided in the KUMS did not meet students’ expectations in five dimensions of service quality. Thus, it warrants further investigations to determine how to improve the quality of educational services in higher education institutes such as the KUMS.

This paper aims to study the application of high-tolerance and flexible indigenous bacteria and fungi, along with the co-metabolism in recycled paper and cardboard mill (RPCM) wastewater treatment (WWT).

The molecular characterization of isolated indigenous bacteria and fungi was performed by 16S rRNA and 18S rRNA gene sequencing, respectively. Glucose was used as a cometabolic substrate to enhance the bioremediation process.

The highest removal efficiency was achieved for both chemical oxygen demand (COD) and color [78% COD and 45% color removal by Pseudomonas aeruginosa RW-2 (MZ603673), as well as approximately 70% COD and 48% color removal by Geotrichum candidum RW-4 (ON024394)]. The corresponding percentages were higher in comparison with the efficiency obtained from the oxidation ditch unit in the full-scale RPCM WWT plant.

Indigenous P. aeruginosa RW-2 and G. candidum RW-4 demonstrated effective capability in RPCM WWT despite the highly toxic and low biodegradable nature, especially with the assistance of glucose.

Knowledge is a key driver for the competitive success of organizations, but about 90 percent of organizational knowledge is inside employees’ minds with personal essence; therefore, this paper provides valuable vision for managers by exploring knowledge acquisition (KA) techniques and personality type. The purpose of this paper is to examine KA techniques and explore the impact of personality type on the KA process in the aerospace industry.

This paper examines KA techniques through an empirical study involving 83 participants to take part in KA sessions. For exploring techniques, a questionnaire was used, and also the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator was used to identify participants’ personality type. The impact of personality type on KA processes was determined by correlation analysis.

Analyses confirmed some association between the type of personality and KA process. In addition, the findings of exploring questionnaire items showed that participants gave the laddering technique the highest rating.

The paper may be of high value to researchers in the field of KA, especially in aerospace industries, because there is very little experimental investigation of KA, and it also provides valuable information and guidelines that hopefully will help researchers to select appropriate KA techniques.

This paper aims to explore the relationship between personality traits (introversion versus extroversion) and knowledge acquisition (KA) techniques.

The major methodology of the current study is survey. Results are based on 152 usable responses provided by experts in different industries including electronic, communication, information technology, computer and biology. The major analytical technique used is Pearson correlation analysis.

According to the results, there are significant relationships between personality traits (i.e. introversion versus extroversion) and KA techniques.

This study was conducted on data from 152 Iranian experts which limits the generalizability of the results. This limitation can be addressed by future studies conducting similar studies on cross-country samples. Further, due to the analytical technique adopted in this study, causality implications cannot be drawn from the results.

This study reveals linkages between personality traits (i.e. introversion versus extroversion) and KA techniques. Results shed light on the KA process for both scholars and practitioners involved in KA programs in the organizations.

There are many challenges in the development of a digital library (DL) and their complexity can be approached effectively with a maturity model. In a maturity model, the features of a phenomenon are divided into different levels and at each level, they are first improved before going on to the improvement or realization of the next level. The purpose of this study is to design a digital library maturity model (DLMM) in Iran.

The DLMM was designed using a qualitative approach, meta-synthesis and the Delphi technique. First, the maturity features of a DL were identified by assessing 68 sources of study concerning DLs and maturity models using meta-synthesis. The maturity features were then validated by experts using the three-round Delphi technique. Finally, the experts were asked to categorize these features into the five levels of the capability maturity model (CMM) as the base model.

By analyzing these sources, three categories, seven concepts and 35 codes for the maturity features of a DL were identified. The majority of previous studies focused on the use of hardware/software systems as the backup and empowerment of DLs and the concept of DL content. The maturity features were then validated by experts using the three-round Delphi technique. Like the base model, DLMM has five levels, and most features were categorized into the third and fourth levels by the experts. Features such as human resources, needs assessment of DL and readiness to create a DL were included in the second level.

This work adds the concept of the maturity model to the literature of DLs.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the application of C-shaped QFD 3D Matrix in comparing process characteristics (PC), performance aspects (PA) and customer requirements, simultaneously and to prioritize the first two sets, respectively.

A three dimensional matrix has been developed with three sets of PC, PA and customers’ requirements and C-shaped matrix has been applied for simultaneous comparison of the dimensions and prioritization of the subsets of PC and PA. The proposed approach has been examined in a post bank.

Findings confirm the possibility of simultaneous comparison and prioritization of the three sets of dimensions of this study in post bank services. In addition, “growth and learning” and “bilateral relationship with suppliers” had the first priorities among PA and PC, respectively.

While the proposed approach has many advantages, filling the matrixes is time-consuming. Since illustrating the 3D matrix was not possible, the matrix was separated into five two-dimensional matrixes.

Compared to the studied literature, the proposed approach is practically new in the post bank services.

Selection of knowledge management strategies (KMS) is one of the most important and effective factors in acquiring the competitive advantage and elevating the knowledge level of the organizations. Those organizations that have taken steps toward knowledge management necessarily need to pay utmost attention to the matter of KMS before taking any further steps in their activities. One of the effective ways in adopting the proper KMS is evaluating the knowledge management maturity level in the organization. The purpose of this paper is to design an expert fuzzy system to adopt the KMS based on Bloodgood model in accordance with the maturity level of the organization.

In this method, with the help of expert fuzzy system, a model has been designed, by using MATLAB software, to adopt the KMS. The KM maturity level, tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge are chosen as inputs, and each one of Bloodgood’s KMS (production, transfer and protecting the knowledge) are chosen as outputs. To perform the system, the maturity level of knowledge management of an industrial organization that has been evaluated by the standard Asian Productivity Organization questionnaire is used as the input, which has been given to expert fuzzy system. Then, considering the output of the system, KMS for the organization have been recommended.

Knowledge management maturity level of the organization is on Level 4; considering the expert fuzzy system that has been designed, “knowledge production” strategy is recommended for the organization under study.

An expert fuzzy system has been designed regarding the maturity of knowledge management and Bloodgood model that can be used as a guide for organizations and academic people as an appropriate practical model for selecting knowledge management strategies.

Hospital accreditation has been adopted internationally as a way and solution for healthcare quality improvement in hospitals. The purpose of this study was to review and knowledge mapping of bibliographic data about “Hospital Accreditation” and assess the current quantitative trends.

Scientometric methods and knowledge visualization using the coword analysis techniques conducted in three steps based on the data related to the field of hospital accreditation from 1975 to 2018 obtained from the MEDLINE database. Bibliographic data for titles, abstracts and keywords articles were saved in CSV format and MEDLINE templates by applying filters. Data extracted were exported into an Excel spreadsheet and were preprocessed. The authors applied the text mining and visualization using VOSviewer software.

Hospital accreditation studies have been increased rapidly over the past 30 years. 6,661 documents in the field of hospital accreditation had been published from 1975 to 2018. Hospitals or organizations active in the field of hospital accreditation were in the United States, Italy and Canada. The 10 most productive authors identified in the area of hospital accreditation with a higher influence were identified. “The United States”, “accreditation”, “Joint commission on accreditation” and “quality assurance, healthcare” had, respectively, the highest frequency. The cluster analysis identified and categorized them into four major clusters. Hospital accreditation field had a close relationship with the quality improvement, patient safety, risk and standards.

Hospital accreditation had focused on the scopes of implementation of accreditation programs, adherence to JCI standards, and focus on safety and quality improvement. Future studies are recommended to be conducted on design interventions and paying attention to all dimensions of hospital accreditation.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between intra-organizational knowledge hiding (I-OKH) and turnover intention via the mediating role of organizational embeddedness.

A model was developed and tested with data collected from 276 knowledge workers from the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) using Smart PLS3 to test the hypotheses.

Results show that organizational embeddedness mediates the relationship between intra-organizational knowledge hiding and turnover intention because intra-organizational knowledge hiding relates negatively to organizational embeddedness, which, in turn, has a negative effect on turnover intentions.

This study can be beneficial for organizations that employ knowledge workers. The management should pay attention to the existence and consequences of intra-organizational knowledge hiding to control one of the causing factors of weakened organizational embeddedness, which, in turn, increases employee turnover intentions.

This study is the first attempt to analyze knowledge hiding from a third-person point of view. Moreover, this is the first to examine the mediating role of organizational embeddedness in the relationship between intra-organizational knowledge hiding and employee turnover intentions, enriched by employing the data from the knowledge workers beyond the Anglo-American-European world.