Space-Time Block Coded (STBC) Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) satisfies higher data-rate requirements while maintaining signal quality in a multipath fading channel. However, conventional STBCs, including Orthogonal STBCs (OSTBCs), Non-Orthogonal (NOSTBCs), and Quasi-Orthogonal STBCs (QOSTBCs), do not provide both maximal diversity order and unity code rate simultaneously for more than two transmit antennas. This paper targets this problem and applies Maximum Rank Distance (MRD) codes in designing STBC-OFDM systems. By following the direct-matrix construction method, we can construct binary extended finite field MRD-STBCs for any number of transmitting antennas. Work uses MRD-STBCs built over Phase-Shift Keying (PSK) modulation to develop an MRD-based STBC-OFDM system. The MRD-based STBC-OFDM system sacrifices minor error performance compared to traditional OSTBC-OFDM but shows improved results against NOSTBC and QOSTBC-OFDM. It also provides 25% higher data-rates than OSTBC-OFDM in configurations that use more than two transmit antennas. The tradeoffs are minor increases in computational complexity and processing delays.

Integrating space-time block coding (STBC) with orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) has become a promising wireless communications solution that provides high data transmission rates and improved signal quality. Conventional (orthogonal and non-orthogonal) STBCs had a tradeoff between transmission rates and maximum diversity when applied in STBC-OFDM systems with more than two transmit antenna chains. The Fourier transform-based OFDM also has a high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) that deteriorates system performance. This work addresses the mentioned issues using wavelet-transform-based OFDM (WOFDM) and STBCs based on maximum-rank-distance (MRD) codes, i.e., MRD-STBCs. In the proposed MRD-STBC-WOFDM system, MRD-STBCs provide rate-1 transmissions with maximum diversity, while WOFDM enhances bit-error-rate (BER) and PAPR performance. Compared with conventional STBC-OFDM, the proposed system with three transmit antennas has significant BER and PAPR improvement. Moreover, the wavelet transform application in MRD-STBC-OFDM reduces the OFDM's complexity.

To explore the correlations between procrastination, perceived stress and parenting style of Chinese medical students. One hundred and forty students of bachelor of medicine (MBBS) (62 males and 78 females) aged from 18 to 22 years enrolled in the study. Procrastination assessment scale-students (PASS), the Chinese version of the perceived stress scale (PSS) and the Chinese version of Egma minnen av Barndoms uppfostran (EMBU) were assessed at the beginning of the semester. Meanwhile, PSS were retested two times at 2 weeks (PSS2) and 4 weeks (PSS3) after the first testing (PSS1). Students with higher procrastination frequency had higher scores of PSS2, PSS3 and total PSS than the students with lower procrastination frequency. Boys reported a significantly higher level of father punishment and mother rejection and mother over-intervention than girls. Procrastination, mother warmth & affection and over-intervention had positive and significant main effects on stress. Procrastination induced delayed stress of MBBS. Male MBBS reported more negative relationships with their parents than female MBBS. Positive parenting style had a positive correlation with stress and negative parenting style had a negative correlation with stress. Procrastination, mother warmth & affection and over-intervention predicted higher stress.

Recently, to increase the data capacity of visible light communication (VLC) systems naturally, an ideal combination of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO-OFDM) technique has proven to be an efficient way. However, to ensure real-valued output for the VLC system, a Hermitian symmetry (HS) is usually levied in the OFDM technique, which reduces the data rate while increasing the computational complexity (CC) of the system. In this paper, a wavelet transform (WT) based non-HS OFDM technique (NHS-OFDM) for the MIMO-VLC system has been presented using non-imaging and imaging receivers to study the performance numerically. The state-of-the-art NHS-OFDM technique was realized by isolating real and imaginary parts of traditional RF-based OFDM signal and then transmitted by a pair of white LED luminaries. By incorporating WT with the OFDM technique, the error performance and data rate of the system are greatly improved, as WT eliminates standard usage of the cyclic prefix. Link-level performance of the recommended MIMO-VLC system was tested, considering BER, CC, and PAPR. Also, closed-form analytical BER expressions were derived and compared with the simulated results in the presence of line-of-sight links. Analytical and simulated results are analogous to each other and confirm that the proposed WT-based NHS-OFDM technique with imaging receiver achieves better BER results, with very low CC. Moreover, the WT-based NHS-OFDM technique also reduces the PAPR without employing any reduction technique.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by depression/anxiety and memory failure, primarily fear memory. According to the reports, neuroinflammation and synaptic plasticity can play a role in the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying PTSD. Bromodomain-containing protein 4 (Brd4) intriguingly affects regulating of inflammatory responses and learning and memory. This study aimed to explore the effect of inhibiting Brd4 on depression/anxiety-like behaviors, spatial and fear memory, and underlying mechanisms in a model of PTSD. Inescapable foot shocks (IFS) with a sound reminder in 6 days were used to induce PTSD-like behaviors which were tested using contextual and cue fear tests, sucrose preference test, open-field test, elevated plus maze test, and Y-maze test. Meanwhile, the Brd4 inhibitor JQ1 was used as an intervention. The results found that IFS induced PTSD-like behaviors and indicated obvious Brd4 expression in microglia of the prefrontal cortex (PFC), hippocampus, and amygdala, pro-inflammatory cytokines over-expression, microglial activation, and nuclear factor-kappa B over-expression in PFC and hippocampus but not in amygdala. Meanwhile, the alterations of immediate early genes (IEGs) were found in PFC, hippocampus, and amygdala. Besides, dendritic spine density was reduced in PFC and hippocampus but was elevated in amygdala of rats with IFS. In addition, treatment with JQ1 significantly reduced freezing time in the contextual and cue fear test, reversed the behavioral impairment, decreased the elevated neuroinflammation, and normalized the alteration in IEGs and dendritic spine densities. The results suggested that Brd4 was involved in IFS-induced PTSD-like behaviors through regulating neuroinflammation, dynamics of IEGs, and synaptic plasticity.

This work is aimed at providing a novel design of the Visible Light Communication (VLC) system that uses the Multi-Carrier Code-Division Multiple Access (MC-CDMA) technique to send and receive data through intensity-modulated/direct detected (IM/DD) VLC channel. The state-of-the-art framework of Enhanced Sub-Carrier Index Modulation (ESIM) is utilized to reduce the inherent peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) in Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing. Additionally, the use of cyclic prefix is omitted through the Discrete Wavelet Transform in the current system. Hence, the performance of the system is optimized in terms of PAPR, Bit Error Rate (BER), and data rate. The work presents the closed-form BER expressions for both conventional and proposed techniques in line-of-sight VLC channel. Correspondingly, the simulation programs are also executed to compared the proposed ESIM based WT-MC-CDMA system with both existing systems followed by an analysis of the results. Simulation results show the superior performance of the proposed system compared to existing systems.

Abstract Optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) has proven to be an effective technique for the visible light communication (VLC) system in which data is sent and received through the intensity-modulated/direct-detected optical channel. However, OFDM exhibits high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) and for the generation of real-valued signal employs Hermitian symmetry (HS) of the frequency symbols which in turn boost the computational complexity (CC) and deteriorates the performance of the system. Besides, OFDM also included cyclic prefix (CP) as redundancy that reduces the spectral efficiency. This paper aims to target the aforesaid OFDM issues and introduce a novel technique in the form of wavelet transform (WT) based on non-HS OFDM (NHS-OFDM). In the proposed technique, an N -point complex OFDM signal is generated by utilizing wavelets as basis function, from which real and imaginary components are extracted and then concatenated to form a 2 N -point real signal. The work also confirmed that the CC of the proposed technique is about 83% less than the conventional Fourier transform (FT) based NHS-OFDM technique due to which reduction in PAPR and bit error rate (BER) improvement is also noticed from the simulated results. The superior performance of WT based NHS-OFDM technique is further verified via experiments conducted by interfacing the computer terminal with Raspberry Pi (RPi) 3b+ modules. In the designed VLC prototype, the NHS-OFDM modem work as the software-defined radio (SDR) on a stand-alone computer. The experiment results reveal that real-time text message is transmitted and received without error at the communication range of 1.75 m while the data rate attains from the prototype is 3.921 Mbps.

1 Zhongtai Securities, Institute for Financial Studies, School of Mathematics, Shandong University, Jinan, CHINA. 2 Department of Psychology International Islamic University, Islamabad, PAKISTAN. 3 School of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, CHINA. 4 School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, CHINA 5 Department of Health Psychology, School of Nursing, Shandong University, Jinan, CHINA.

Background: Job burnout is a major issue for workers in the banking sector. Many employees report feeling exhausted and want to leave their jobs due to the extra pressure and workload from their superiors and clients. They also report not being well compensated for their hard work, which they believe they do to provide the best service to their clients. Methods: A cross-sectional study was made in various banks in different cities of Pakistan. An adapted questionnaire, including the effort-reward imbalance scale, psychological capital, and Maslach burnout inventory general survey were used to collect data from 1,778 male and female bank employees. Results: There was a significant and positive relationship between extrinsic effort and over-commitment on the one hand, and emotional exhaustion and depersonalization on the other. It was also found that reward was negatively associated with emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. However, reward had a positive association with personal accomplishment. There was a gender difference in the mediating effect of psychological capital on stress at work and job burnout. Conclusion: Male attitudes to work tend to be motivated by reward and appreciation, whereas females tend to demand a better working environment. To reduce job, burnout suitable interventions could be introduced for bank employees, whilst management support plays an important role in increasing or decreasing stress in employees.

Depression and anxiety are highly prevalent in Heart failure patients. The main objective of the study is to check the prevalence of anxiety and depression and associated factors of Heart Failure Patients of South Punjab Pakistan. A sample of 192 Hospital admitted patients whose age range was between 27-71 years were selected from various cardiac hospitals of south Punjab Pakistan for January-July 2017 through a purposive sampling technique. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was used to assess the level of depression and anxiety among patients. The social and psychological parameters including family care, gender, and relevant support were identified. Findings revealed a highly significant correlation between the level of anxiety and depression among Hospitalized heart failure patients. According to results anxiety and depression is higher among unmarried and patients with low family care and support. In addition, data has indicated that economic factors associated with poverty mediate the frequency of anxiety and depression. It was determined that approximately 50% and 54% of peoples were involved in anxiety and depression respectively, however, 31% of people were regarded in the borderline of anxiety and depression and most patients were accompanied by heart disease. Furthermore, marital status, the difference in income level also promotes anxiety and depression in patients associated with heart disease. (C) 2020 INT TRANS J ENG MANAG SCI TECH.

At domestic level, the load management plays a vital role as the consumer line gets overloaded due to the various load categories. The fully loaded line consumes more energy units, which increases the electricity bill of the consumer. To circumvent the issue of load unbalancing, an automated load management system is developed that shifts the load from one line to another. The proposed system is developed by making use of current and potential sensing transformers and Arduino Mega board. Moreover, the proposed system also provides an internet of things (IoT) based monitoring facility to the user. The sensed information from the system is uploaded to the web server by the help of Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) from where the user can access this information at any time through appropriate applications. Based on the monitoring data, the user can take necessary decisions regarding the switching off unnecessary load. Both simulation and hardware results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed system.

BACKGROUND:Microglial activation and pro-inflammatory cytokines expression is closely related to pathogenesis of depression. Aging is a known risk factor for neuroinflammation in the central nervous system and subsequent behavioral impairment. Enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2), a methyltransferase of histone H3 lysine 27 which regulates microglial activation, plays a crucial role in proinflammatory cytokines expression. However, whether the EZH2 is involved in susceptibility to depression in different ages remains elusive. METHODS:Young and aged C57BL/6 mice were exposed to chronic unpredictable mild stress for three weeks. Depression- and anxiety-like behaviors, spatial memory impairment, and the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, P-p65, EZH2, H3K27me3 and SOCS3 in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus were measured using an established behavioral battery, ELISA, immunohistochemistry and western blotting techniques. Moreover, EPZ-6438, an inhibitor of EZH2, was utilized to detect the role of EZH2 in neuroinflammation and behavioral abnormalities. RESULTS:CUMS induced depression-like behaviors and spatial memory impairment, elevated levels of proinflammatory cytokines and P-p65, enhanced M1 microglia activation, and increased levels of EZH2, H3K27me3 and SOCS3 in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus in young and aged mice. Both unstressed and stressed aged mice displayed attention-deficit behavioral outcomes, alteration of protein levels compared with young mice. However, inhibition of EZH2 could relieve most of behavioral and molecular alterations. LIMITATIONS:A relative small sample size is a limitation. CONCLUSIONS:EZH2 might be involved in susceptibility to neuroinflammation and depression-like behaviors in different aged mice.

With the development of new generation lighting sources, visible light communication (VLC) system has become a complementary solution to traditional radio frequency wireless system. However, the error performance of VLC system is degraded because of multipath effects and interference from other lighting sources that, in turn, reduce the communication range. This work targets the issue of performance degradation of VLC systems in terms of communication range and demonstrates a VLC system design that utilizes forward error correction (FEC) codes as the main tool to fix this issue. Furthermore, the work also covers practical implementation of the proposed VLC system using UART modules programmed in MATLAB. The hardware results demonstrate that the communication range of the proposed VLC system is enhanced up to 0.5 m. Over and above, it is also shown through simulations that the coding gain of the proposed design is more when compared with existing VLC system(s).

The number of factors involved in the development of negative affects among patients suffering in cardiovascular disorder. The psycho-social risk factors, including depressive symptoms, anxiety, exhaustion, anger, and negative affect develop negative emotions in cardiovascular patients. A high positive affect independently relates to decreased cardiovascular disease ratio, whereas low positive affect predicts adverse cardiovascular consequences. The current study aimed to explore the relationship between positivity, positive and negative effects by using perceived stress as a mediating factor among cardiac patients. We recruited 519 cardiac patients aged 20-73 years. All participants provided written informed consent..Assessments included the positivity Scale, Perceived Stress Scale, and Negative and Positive Affect Scale. The results indicated that the perceived stress intermediate between positive and negative affect and stress also negatively affects the emotional relationship. Positivity had an opposite relationship with the negative affect and the perceived stress negative relationship with positive affect. Whereas; the negative affect was a significant positive relationship with perceived stress. The positive emotions are helpful for cardiac patients to reduce the negative feelings which cause to enhance the stress factor. Stress factors can be reduced by patient awareness, using stress prevention strategies and well-being interventions. (C)2020 INT TRANS J ENG MANAG SCI TECH.

Visible Light Communication (VLC) has drastically drawn the attention of both academia and industry as it can offer simultaneous lighting and data communication in an indoor environment. Additionally, VLC also tender a viable means to assuage the radio spectrum crunch. However, the data rate of the VLC system is choked because of the limited modulation bandwidth of Light Emitting Diode (LED), baseband modules, and intersymbol interference (ISI). In this article, an indoor VLC based software-defined radio (SDR) is designed and implemented that make use of Color Shift Keying (CSK) modulation, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technique, and Raspberry Pi (RPi) to enabled the ISI free high data rate communication. The SDR is designed in LabVIEW software interfaced with the MATLAB and tested for text transmission. Numerous experiments were conducted on SDR at different alignments of transmitter and receiver. Our findings through experimentation showed that the SDR delivers an improved data rate of 2.645Mbps. Over and above, MATLAB based simulation packages are also conceived that validate the effectiveness of the proposed CSK-CDMA based VLC system. The bit-error-rate (BER) results of the proposed system are compared with the traditional CSK-OOK based VLC system. The results are quite impressive and show remarkable coding gain.

Background: Procrastination is prevalent among students today, and this negatively impacts upon their academic achievement. The current study aimed to explore the relationship between procrastination, perceived stress, saliva alpha-amylase (sAA) levels, and the parenting styles of Chinese first year medical students (MBBS). Methods: We recruited 140 MBBS students aged 18-22 years. Assessments included the Procrastination Assessment Scale-Students (PASS), the Chinese version of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), saliva alpha-amylase level (sAA), and the Chinese version of the Egna Minnen av Barndoms Uppfostran (EMBU) which assesses parenting style. PSS and sAA levels were assessed at week 1 (baseline), then again at week 2 and week 4. Results: Male students reported higher levels of procrastination and perceived stress reactions than their female counterparts. Male students reported experiencing higher punishing/severe and rejecting (ie negative) parenting styles, while female students reported experiencing higher warm and affectionate (ie positive) parenting styles. Positive parenting styles were negatively associated with to procrastination and stress reactions, while negative parenting styles were positively associated with procrastination and delayed stress reactions among MBBS students. Conclusion: Procrastination induced stress in MBBS students, providing further evidence that procrastination enhances stress in young adulthood. Negative parenting styles, such as being punishing and rejecting, had a positive correlation with procrastination.

Visible Light Communication (VLC) is a data communication technology that modulates the intensity of the light to transmit the information mostly by means of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). The data rate is mainly throttled by the limited bandwidth of the LEDs. To combat, Multi-carrier Code Division Multiple Access (MC-CDMA) is a favorable technique for achieving higher data rates along with reduced Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI) and easy access to multi-users at the cost of slightly reduced compromised spectral efficiency and Multiple Access Interference (MAI). In this article, a multi-user VLC system is designed using a Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) that eradicates the use of cyclic prefix due to the good orthogonality and time-frequency localization properties of wavelets. Moreover, the design also comprises suitable signature codes, which are generated by employing double orthogonality depending upon Walsh codes and Wavelet Packets. The proposed multi-user system is simulated in MATLAB software and its overall performance is assessed using line-of-sight (LoS) and non-line-of-sight (NLoS) configurations. Furthermore, two sub-optimum multi-users detection schemes such as zero forcing (ZF) and minimum-mean-square-error (MMSE) are also used at the receiver. The simulated results illustrate that the doubly orthogonal signature waveform-based DWT-MC-CDMA with MMSE detection scheme outperforms the Walsh code-based multi-user system.

Background/Objectives: In this study, a real-time cost effective, light weight and portable Electrocardiogram (ECG) based telemedicine system for the monitoring of cardiac patients is designed and assembled. Methods/Statistical Analysis: The proposed system is realized with the aid of instrumentation amplifier to improve the signal strength and a notch filter that eliminates the noise from the ECG signal. The output interface of the system is a simple computer/laptop that receives an ECG signal from an Atmega-32 microcontroller using RS-232 serial module. Findings: The ECG waveform parameters such as heartbeat rate, amplitude level, and period of the PQRST wave are acquired and displayed on the GUI interface of LabVIEW. Applications/Improvements: The proposed system can be best implemented in a non-clinical environment such as home, offices and remote areas etc. Furthermore, improvements can be done by incorporating the designed system with the multimedia mobile service for the comfort of the patient and doctor so that they can send and receive ECG signal from any place at any time. Keywords: Atmega-32, Cardiovascular Disease, GUI Interface, Notch Filter, Telemedicine, ECG, RS-232

This paper is aimed at comparing the performance of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) schemes applied to the indoor visible light communication (VLC) system. The MIMO schemes considered for this paper are repetition coding (RC), space-time block codes (STBCs), and spatial multiplexing (SMP). For MIMO design, the current system makes use of unique algebraic codes, i.e., maximum rank distance (MRD) codes in this connection. Two different configurations (2 × 1 and 2 × 2 ) are taken into consideration with distinct transmitters' spacing. Simulation results are presented and a comparative analysis of the current system with an existing system is given mainly in terms of bit error rate (BER), data-rate, and transmission range. The simulation results are validated by the physical implementation of the system using NI cDAQ module programmed in LabVIEW. The simulation and experimentation results indicate that the RC scheme with significant diversity gain provides more robustness as compared to other MIMO schemes; however, the RC exhibits poor multiplexing gain, and hence, it is not spectral efficient. As its counterpart, the STBC and SMP are used that can increase both the capacity and reliability at the cost of slightly reduced transmission range.

Point your SmartPhone at the code above. If you have a QR code reader the video abstract will appear. Or use: https://youtu.be/1zwG3z0tDC8 Background: Procrastination is prevalent among students today, and this negatively impacts upon their academic achievement. The current study aimed to explore the relationship between procrastination, perceived stress, saliva alpha-amylase (sAA) levels, and the parenting styles of Chinese first year medical students (MBBS). Methods: We recruited 140 MBBS students aged 18–22 years. Assessments included the Procrastination Assessment Scale-Students (PASS), the Chinese version of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), saliva alpha-amylase level (sAA), and the Chinese version of the Egna Minnen av Barndoms Uppfostran (EMBU) which assesses parenting style. PSS and sAA levels were assessed at week 1 (baseline), then again at week 2 and week 4. Results: Male students reported higher levels of procrastination and perceived stress reactions than their female counterparts. Male students reported experiencing higher punishing/severe and rejecting (ie negative) parenting styles, while female students reported experiencing higher warm and affectionate (ie positive) parenting styles. Positive parenting styles were negatively associated with to procrastination and stress reactions, while negative parenting styles were positively associated with procrastination and delayed stress reactions among MBBS students. Conclusion: Procrastination induced stress in MBBS students, providing further evidence that procrastination enhances stress in young adulthood. Negative parenting styles, such as being punishing and rejecting, had a positive correlation with procrastination.