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This paper aims to propose a new nonlinear function estimation fuzzy system as a novel statistical approach to estimate nanofluids’ thermal conductivity.

A fuzzy system having a product inference engine, a singleton fuzzifier, a center average defuzzifier and Gaussian membership functions is proposed for this purpose.

Results indicate that the proposed fuzzy system can predict the thermal conductivity of Al₂O₃/paraffin nanofluid with appropriate precision and generalization and it also outperforms the classic interpolation methods.

A new nonlinear function estimation fuzzy system was introduced as a novel statistical approach to estimate nanofluids’ thermal conductivity for the first time.

This paper aims to present a black-box fuzzy system identification method coupled with genetic algorithm optimization approach to predict the mixture thermal conductivity at dissimilar temperatures and nanoparticle concentrations, in the examined domains.

WO3 nanoparticles are dispersed in the deionized water to produce a homogeneous mixture at various nanoparticles mass fractions of 0.1, 0.5, 1.0 and 5.0 Wt.%.

The results depicted that the models not only have satisfactory precision, but also have acceptable accuracy in dealing with non-trained input values.

The transmission electron microscopy is applied to measure the mean diameters, shape and morphology of the dry nanoparticles. Moreover, the stability of nanoparticles inside the water is evaluated by using zeta potential and dynamic light scattering (DLS) tests. Then, the prepared nanofluid thermal conductivity is presented at different values of temperatures and concentrations.

The purpose of this paper is to explore oncology nurses’ barriers to empathy-based care perceptions.

The authors used a descriptive qualitative method. In total, 18 oncology nurses were selected via purposive sampling. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and qualitative content analysis using an inductive approach.

Three main categories emerged from the data analysis: barriers related to nursing including: lacking compassion; disinterest in oncology nursing and self-criticism; psychological distress; barriers related to healthcare: job strain; task-centeredness; no formal training; poor manager support; nurse-patient gender imbalance; and barriers related to cancer care including: difficulty maintaining empathy with cancer patients; and inappropriate cancer patient

Oncology nurses provided insights into barriers to empathy-based care and the challenges they encountered while caring for cancer patients. Understanding these barriers is the first step to overcoming obstacles and creating an open and caring environment to provide an empathic care culture.

Given that oncology nurses experience several emotions, positive coping strategies for these distresses should be adopted. Healthcare systems should change cancer-caring culture from task-centered to patient-centered care. Compassion and empathy should become patient care values.

In spite of the growing interest in using corpora in language teaching and learning, applying computers and software (especially corpora software) is still new in second language teaching and learning. In addition, employing a learner corpus-based perspective in teaching metadiscourse features in International English Language Testing System (IELTS) writing tasks is not reported to the best knowledge of the researchers. Understanding and spotting this gap, the purpose of this paper is to utilize a learner corpus-based approach in teaching metadiscourse features and investigate its possible impacts on IELTS writing performance of the Iranian second language learners. Therefore, this study addressed the following research questions and hypotheses.

The current research utilized a quasi-experimental research design. In addition, this research used a learner corpus-based methodology. The corpus-based methodology was exploited to enable the researchers to have access to a large body of authentic language materials. In other words, a corpus-based methodology was used due to the fact that it made it possible for the researchers to elicit the metadiscourse features from a large number of authentic writing materials and to employ them during the treatment process with authentic examples.

The findings showed that there was a positive correlation between teaching metadiscourse features and writing performance of IELTS learners; in that, teaching metadiscourse features could soar the writing performance of the subjects. In addition, interactional metadiscourse features had more impact than interactive metadiscourse features on writing performance.

The results of this research can have useful implications for second language teachers and learners as well as researchers in learner corpus as they can learn the creation and application of learner corpora in second language teaching and learning.

This paper is value in that it uses corpus software and methodology in teaching metadiscourse features in writing section of IELTS test.