m. tayebi

Nurses are among those who are stressed due to their high sensitivity job in the workplace. In addition, stress is associated with self-handicapping. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the perceived stress and self-handicapping of nurses in various work shifts. Participants of this causal-comparative study were 72 nurses (32 morning shifts and 40 evening and night shifts) in one of hospitals in Tehran city during 2016-2017 that were selected by available sampling process. Determination of sample size was performed using Cochran’s formula. One-way analysis of variance was used to assess the difference between the three shifts. The results showed that there was no significant difference between the three groups in perceived stress. The results of multivariate analysis of variance showed that there is a significant difference between the three groups of nurses (p=0.001), so that in the claimed self-handicapping, the means of alteration changed from low- to high- values respectively in the morning to night shifts and, reversely, it was from high- to low- values in behavioral self-handicapping. Perceived stress among nurses seems to be high due to the sensitivity of this work. In the context of self-handicapping, as the nurses should be decision-makers due to reduced access to specialists at nights, this feature is bolder.

Currently, there are no tidal power plants in Iran, although conditions are good for tidal power generation in the southern coasts of the country. Several tidal power plants can be installed in these regions which can provide locally needed electricity or to be fed to local grids. The location selection for tidal power plant is a key strategic decision, which has significant impact on economic operation of the power plant and sustainable development of the region. Further, the location selection is an inherently complex multi-criteria group decision-making problem involving several conflicting criteria on which decision maker’s knowledge is usually vague and imprecise. It is generally hard to find a location that meets all the evaluation criteria simultaneously, so a good compromise solution is preferred. To deal with the problem, this paper proposes a rational and systematic multi-criteria group decision-making method that combines The Compromise Ranking method, also known as the VIKOR method, and fuzzy logic. The applicability of the proposed method is demonstrated by a real-world case study of tidal current power plant location selection in Iran. The alternatives of this study area are Khowr-e Musa Bay, Bushehr Bay, Qeshm Canal, Chahbahar Bay. According to the final score, the first alternative, Khowr-e Musa Bay, is the most suitable location for setting up tidal stream power plant.