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The effect of drought indices on hydrostatic variations and qualitative parameters of the Zahedan Plain's aquifer was investigated. For this purpose, 12-year statistics from observational and piezometry wells in the plain, the drought index of percentage normal )PN), standardized precipitation index )SPI(, and 30-year precipitation statistics of Zahedan station were used. Results revealed that the PN index had a greater variety than SPI. The aquifer hydrograph showed a rise of 1.37 m in water level from the year 2002-2003 to 2013-2014. Considering the drought conditions in the plain, this rise in the water level can be attributed to the reduced water extraction from the aquifer, because the water requirement of Zahedan city was supplied from other sources, viz. Chah-nimehs. Also, there was a significant correlation between the parameters of anion, TDS, and Na⁺ with SPI. However, PN index did not have any significant relationship with the quality parameters. There was a significant correlation between water level balance and SPI only at the level of 1%.

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Aims: Death is an important and significant issue in nursing. The present study aimed to explain death anxiety among nursing students using a qualitative approach.
Participants & Methods: The present qualitative study was conducted on 12 nursing students from the School of Nursing and Midwifery in Zahedan during 2023-2024. The participants were selected through purposive sampling and attended semi-structured interviews after providing informed consent. The interviews were immediately transcribed and analyzed using a conventional content analysis technique. The data were coded by MAXQDA2020 software and analyzed using the content analysis method proposed by Graneheim and Lundman.
Findings: The students recognized the reality of death and its existential necessity. They also pointed to the lack of confrontation with death and after-death experiences, the meaning of death, the quality of death and dying, concerns about survivors, and emotional confrontation.
Conclusion: There are many concepts regarding the concept of death, with one of the most important ones highlighted by almost all participants being the reality of death and its existential necessity.
 

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Aims: Nurses are responsible for meeting the care needs of dying patients and their families, including the evaluation and provision of spiritual care. Therefore, this study investigated nurses’ attitudes toward death and their understanding of spirituality and spiritual care.
Instrument & Methods: This descriptive-analytical study included 237 Iranian nurses working in hospitals in southeast Iran in 2023. The data were collected using the Death Attitude Profile-Revised and the Spirituality and Spiritual Care Rating Scale. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 22 software, employing descriptive statistics, independent t-tests, and Pearson’s correlation coefficient.
Findings: The average score of nurses’ attitudes toward death was 134.80±12.57, and the average score of nurses’ attitudes toward spirituality and spiritual care was 84.59±9.98. There was a weak correlation between scores of the Spirituality and Spiritual Care Rating Scale and Death Attitude Profile-Revised subscales. There was no relationship between participants’ perceptions of spiritual care and their attitudes toward death (p≤0.05).
Conclusion: Education and work experience are effective in fostering a positive attitude among nurses toward death.

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Evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of bacteria in the aquaculture ecosystem is the first stage of probiotic bacteria screening studies. The aim of the present study was to isolate the intestinal bacteria of cultivated Vanammei shrimp with antimicrobial activity against pathogenic bacteria in vitro and in vivo. For this purpose, sampling of shrimp culture sites in South Tiab and North Tiab was done in 3 stages. The results of counting culturable bacteria using Zobell agar culture medium showed that in South Tiab site, the average number of bacteria in shrimp intestine samples was from 3.66 × 10⁶ CFU/gr in the first stage of sampling to 4.63 ×10⁶ CFU/gr in the third stage. With a similar trend, the changes of this amount in the North Tiab site fluctuated from 16.4 ×10⁶ CFU/gr to 16.16 ×10⁶ CFU/gr. Evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of the isolates using the agar diffusion method showed that 9, 6, 4 and 3 isolates respectively compared to V. alginolyticus, V. harveyi, V. parahaemolyticus and P. aeroginosa showed antimicrobial activity.

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Nowadays, extensive investigations have been conducted on developing novel biopolymers from biodegradable sources. In the current study, the active packaging film based on sago starch-containing varying concentrations (1, 1.5 and 2 MIC) of Withania Somnifera L. extract were produced. The Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and Minimal Bactericide Concentration (MBC) of extract were measured. Physicochemical (such as thickness, water absorption capacity (WAC), water solubility (WS), water vapor permeability, Oxygen Permeability (OP) and contact angle (CA)), mechanical (tensile strength, elongation to break and modulus of elasticity) and antioxidant properties of the films were evaluated. The antibacterial activity of the films also was tested against two common food-borne pathogens (Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus) by the disc diffusion method. The results showed that increasing concentrations of Withania Somnifera L. extract have a significant effect (p <0.05) to increase the amount of thickness, WS, water vapor permeability, OP, and CA, but was not effective on WAC. Withania Somnifera L. extract increased the absorption of color in the visible region, which in turn led to an increasing of the parameters a^* (index color tends toward green) and b^* (index color tends towards yellow) but reduced L^*. An increase in Withania Somnifera L. extract content resulted in a plasticizing effect, reducing the tensile strength and Young’s modulus but a concurrent increase in elongation at break. Sago films containing higher percentages of Withania Somnifera L. extract were effective against all two tested bacterial strains, and these effects were more significant in the case of the gram-positive bacteria. Sago film containing extract showed a good DPPH radical scavenging activity. These results suggest that the developed sago films containing Withania Somnifera L. extract could be used in various food packaging applications.

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In this study, the effect of various concentrations of date syrup as a sugar substitute in ratios of 0, 50 and 100% on quality characteristics of dairy dessert was evaluated. Properties of dairy dessert such as pH, acidity, rheological properties, sensory properties and viability of probiotics in 5 ˚c were determined. Results showed that by increasing date syrup concentration and amount of probiotic bacteria, pH decreased and as the storage progressed significant trend in the pH was observed for all treatments. Studied treatments had statistically effect on viscosity. Addition of date syrup decreased apparent viscosity, consistency coefficient and increased flow behavior index. The most and lowest viscosity was observed in control (1364.1 mPa.s) and 100% date syrup treatments (599 mPa.s), respectively. Sensory properties were affected by date syrup concentrations. Treatment with 50% date syrup had higher scores than others. The number of viable cells of probiotic bacteria was reduced significantly during storage period. The lowest and highest of viability of probiotic bacterial was observed in 100 and 50 % date syrup treatments, respectively. The results suggest that using of date syrup at concentrations of 50% improve sensory and physical properties and can increase viability of probiotic bacteria of dairy dessert samples.

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Nowadays, the food industry is looking for new technologies to increase the shelf life of various products. Furthermore, as consumer's demand for more “healthier” meals (free of conventional chemical preservatives) has increased in the last decade. In this study, edible sago starch coating containing leave extract of Withania Somnifera (0.125 and 0.25 mg/ml, 1 and 2 times MIC, respectively) was applied onto chicken fillet to extend its shelf life at 4 ˚C. Examination of coated chicken fillets showed that active film of sago starch inhibited the microbial load (aerobic bacteria, coliform and Staphylococcus aureus bacteria) of chicken fillets. The results of chemical analysis of chicken fillet also showed that the coated samples had less volatile nitrogen compounds, thiobarbituric acid index and peroxide value than control. In general, the results of this study showed that the edible film produced from sago starch containing Withania Somnifera extract increases the shelf life of chicken fillets.

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Considering only two dimensions (cost and time) among different dimensions that have been defined for evaluation success of rehabilitation and renovation process in urban decay contexts, and with attention to the special condition of Iran, the current trend is clearly inappropriate. In this regard, this study, considering the important role of suitable housing and urban space in the welfare of the citizenry, aims to facilitate and amend this process by evaluating strategies to encourage non-government sector in order to comprehensive participation in the mentioned process. For this purpose, using Descriptive-Analytical methodology, the research hypotheses were evaluated from the perspective of descriptive and illative statistics. The results showed this reality that despite neglect to indirect encourage instrument (Non-Grant Base Instrument) in order to encourage investors to investment in rehabilitation and renovation process, these instruments can be useful similar to direct encourage instruments that mainly have a financial base. Also test results of the second hypothesis showed a correlation between desire to investment in decay urban contexts and use of industrial construction methods in these contexts; this can provide suitable opportunity for decision makers in order to encourage use of industrial construction methods, because they have different kinds of benefits that inherently increase tendency of both the investor and citizenry to investment in urban decay contexts.

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Value engineering is a powerful tool for solving problems based on creativity and function and it has been used in construction projects for many years and could prove its advantages to all members of this industry in recent years. However, like other tools, it has the ability to upgrade and increase productivity. This study attempts to provide a consolidated framework for value engineering and risk management. Accordingly, after identifying the model’s factors in these two areas, models which are more associated with the construction industry have been chosen. Based on experts' opinions, top models were selected for integration. By using the Delphi method, experts reached a consensus for sequence of the framework steps. After necessary synchronization, this framework implemented in Ports and Maritime Organization as a verification. By using this framework, the process of value engineering is improved. Risk management (associating experts who are aware of all aspects of project) was executed in two levels and based on fuzzy logic. It resulted in spending less time and money.