Communication Rate Research Articles

Children's speech, language and communication skills and parental knowledge in the growing up in New Zealand cohort.

There is a substantial discrepancy between international and local prevalence rates for speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) amongst children in New Zealand. Reports of communication impairment are likely to be underestimates. Prevalence data can describe population characteristics and inform the scope and nature of services to adequately meet demand. Parents and other caregivers are central to the early identification of children with communication needs but they may not recognise their child's needs or act on their concerns. Cross-sectional data were available for the Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) longitudinal study cohort at 24, 54 and 72 months of age, with 76% of whānau (families; n = 5241) completing three data waves. Descriptive and chi-square analyses were used to address: (1) What are the communication abilities of children in the first 5 years of life? (2) What do New Zealand parents understand of their children's communication? (3) Do New Zealand parents have concerns? (4) What are the trajectories of parental concern for children's communication in the first 6 years of life? At 24 months old, 16% of children had communication skills that were of concern to their parents. At 54 months, there were concerns for 12.6% of children. Although most parents were able to describe their child's expressive abilities, many parents remained unconcerned when their child demonstrated communication skills that did not met developmental expectations. Parents can offer valuable insights about their children, but in many cases their level of concern about SLCN did not align with a professional view which reflects a more nuanced understanding of children's speech and language and the impact on future communication skills and needs. Increased awareness through public health messaging specifically regarding lifelong influences of communication challenges will aid in prevention, early detection and intervention. What is already known on this subject Parent's expectations of child speech and language development will inform how responsive they are to difficulties in their child. Appropriate parental concern is key to recognition of children with speech, language and communication needs that warrant referral to a professional. What this paper adds to existing knowledge Parents are aware of expressive language skills that children acquire and can accurately identify their children's skills but have less knowledge of the ages of acquisition. Some parents are not concerned, do not seek support despite recognisable difficulties, and demonstrate limited understanding of the future consequences for children with communication needs that are unmet. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Public health messaging should include both skills and age ranges for speech and language acquisition. Additionally, educating the public of the impact of speech, language and communication skills on children's futures is needed.

Recognition of Energy Harvesting Techniques for Enhanced Operation in WSN Using IoT with Deep Learning

The recognition of energy harvesting techniques for enhanced operation in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) using IoT and deep learning entails a novel approach to improving the energy efficiency and operational durability of sensor nodes deployed in various environments. Energy harvesting refers to the process of collecting energy from diverse sources such as solar power, thermal energy, wind energy, and mechanical vibrations, and converting it into electrical energy to power electronic devices, including sensor nodes in a WSN. The integration of the Internet of Things with WSNs allows for interconnectivity, enabling enhanced communication, data exchange, and remote management capabilities. This integration facilitates the deployment of more intelligent and adaptive sensor networks, capable of making decisions based on collected information. Deep learning, a subset of machine learning, plays a vital role in enhancing the operation of WSNs by providing advanced data analysis and predictive modeling capabilities. Through the utilization of deep learning algorithms, the proposed system can forecast energy consumption patterns, identify optimal periods for energy harvesting, and optimize the energy efficiency of sensor nodes. This includes adjusting operational parameters such as data communication rates or sleep cycles based on the predicted availability of harvested energy. Deep learning also aids in identifying and prioritizing the most viable energy sources in the deployment environment of the WSN. By employing appropriate energy harvesting techniques based on environmental conditions, such as solar energy harvesting in summer or mechanical vibration harvesting in industrial settings, the proposed method ensures more efficient operation and sustainability of sensor networks across various applications.

Cucker–Smale type flocking models on a sphere

Cucker–Smale type flocking models on a sphere

Nearest neighbor bit assisted decision scheme for ISI mitigation in optical camera communications.

To enable a higher transmission rate in optical camera communication (OCC) systems, severe inter-symbol interference (ISI) occurs owing to the reduction of the number of pixel-row-per-bit (PPB). Therefore, those pixels representing data bit 0 or 1 may have same gray scale values, significantly deteriorating the bit decision when using the conventional thresholding scheme. In this Letter, a simple yet efficient scheme, referred to as nearest neighbor bit assisted decision (NNBAD) scheme, is proposed and experimentally demonstrated for signal decision in OCC systems. NNBAD leverages the nearest neighbor bit to jointly assist bit decision for pixels with severe ISI. Experimental results show that, for OCC systems with on-off keying (OOK) modulation, those pixels with severe ISI cannot be distinguished by the conventional thresholding scheme. Yet, the NNBAD scheme exhibits strong robustness against ISI, remarkably improving the bit error rate (BER) performance. The proposed scheme can achieve a throughput of 8.2 kbps with OOK modulation under an illuminance of 600 lx.

Deep Reinforcement Learning-Based Resource Management in Maritime Communication Systems.

With the growing maritime economy, ensuring the quality of communication for maritime users has become imperative. The maritime communication system based on nearshore base stations enhances the communication rate of maritime users through dynamic resource allocation. A virtual queue-based deep reinforcement learning beam allocation scheme is proposed in this paper, aiming to maximize the communication rate. More particularly, to reduce the complexity of resource management, we employ a grid-based method to discretize the maritime environment. For the combinatorial optimization problem of grid and beam allocation under unknown channel state information, we model it as a sequential decision process of resource allocation. The nearshore base station is modeled as a learning agent, continuously interacting with the environment to optimize beam allocation schemes using deep reinforcement learning techniques. Furthermore, we guarantee that grids with poor channel state information can be serviced through the virtual queue method. Finally, the simulation results provided show that our proposed beam allocation scheme is beneficial in terms of increasing the communication rate.

Full-duplex wireless light communication using green laser diodes

The integration of wireless light communication into a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) module and gateway enables real-time integrated communication networks that satisfy practical application demands. In particular, wireless green light communication tools can operate underwater and in free-space environments. Here, we design, fabricate, and characterize a full-duplex light communication system using green laser diodes (LDs). Operating within the transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP), full-duplex wireless data transmission is confirmed in underwater and free-space environments at a communication rate of 10 Mbps. Through connections to a Wi-Fi module and gateway, the system is accessed by the network via the TCP/IPv4 internet scheme, and real-time video transmission is demonstrated.

Social concordance and patient reported experiences in countries with different gender equality: a multinational survey

BackgroundPatient reported experiences (PREMs) are important indices of quality of care. Similarities in demography between patient and doctor, known as social concordance, can facilitate patient-doctor interaction and may be associated with more positive patient experiences. The aim of this research is to study associations between gender concordance, age concordance and PREMs (doctor-patient communication, involvement in decision making, comprehensiveness of care and satisfaction) and to investigate whether these associations are dependent on a countries’ Gender Equality Index (GEI).MethodsSecondary analysis on a multinational survey (62.478 patients, 7.438 GPs from 34 mostly European countries) containing information on general practices and the patient experiences regarding their consultation. Multi-level analysis is used to calculate associations of both gender and age concordance with four PREMs.ResultsThe female/female dyad was associated with better experienced doctor-patient communication and patient involvement in decision making but not with patient satisfaction and experienced comprehensiveness of care. The male/male dyad was not associated with more positive patient experiences. Age concordance was associated with more involvement in decision making, more experienced comprehensiveness, less satisfaction but not with communication. No association was found between a country’s level of GEI and the effect of gender concordance.ConclusionConsultations in which both patient and GP are female are associated with higher ratings of communication and involvement in decision making, irrespective of the GEI of the countries concerned. Age concordance was associated with all PREMs except communication. Although effect sizes are small, social concordance could create a suggestion of shared identity, diminish professional uncertainty and changes communication patterns, thereby enhancing health care outcomes.

Impact of different receiver geometries on a reconfigurable intelligent surface assisted multi-cell VLC system in the presence of light path blockage.

We report the effect of integrating metasurface-aided reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) on the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) and data rate of a multi-cell visible light communication (VLC) system. RIS has been deployed in the channel between transmitter and receiver to redirect the reflected light in the desired directions, even in the absence of line-of-sight (LoS) links. Results show that the introduction of RIS has improved average SINR but reduced average illumination level compared to a no-RIS system. As the quantity of RIS increases, a discernible improvement in the maximum SINR value is observed. Here, three different receiver geometries, namely, a photodiode (PD), freeform diversity receiver (FDR), and modified FDR (MFDR), have been adopted. The impact of individual receivers has been reported in the presence of light path blockage. MFDR geometry is found to be most suitable with more coverage probability compared to the other two receivers. With (40c m×24c m) RIS area, during blockage, MFDR maintains an average SINR of 21.95dB, which is 97.29% and 14.24% greater than PD and FDR, respectively.

Half-spectrum OFDM to quadruple the spectral efficiency of underwater wireless optical communication with digital power division multiplexing.

Improving the spectrum efficiency (SE) is an effective method to further enhance the data rate of bandwidth-limited underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC) systems. Non-orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (NOFDM) with a compression factor of 0.5 can save half of the bandwidth without introducing any inter-carrier-interference (ICI) only if the total number of subcarriers is large enough, and we termed it as half-spectrum OFDM (HS-OFDM). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported work on a closed-form HS-OFDM signal in the discrete domain from the perspective of a correlation matrix. Due to the special mathematical property, no extra complex decoding algorithm is required at the HS-OFDM receiver, making it as simple as the conventional OFDM receiver. Compared with traditional OFDM, HS-OFDM can realize the same data rate, but with a larger signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) margin. To fully use the SNR resource of the communication system, we further propose a digital power division multiplexed HS-OFDM (DPDM-HS-OFDM) scheme to quadruple the SE of conventional OFDM for the bandwidth-starved UWOCs. The experimental results show that HS-OFDM can improve the receiver sensitivity by around 4dB as opposed to conventional 4QAM-OFDM with the same data rate and SE. With the help of the DPDM-HS-OFDM scheme, the data rate of multi-user UWOC can reach up to 4.5Gbps under the hard-decision forward error correction (HD-FEC) limit of a bit error rate (BER) of 3.8×10-3. Although there is some performance degradation in comparison with single-user HS-OFDM, the BER performance of multi-user DPDM-HS-OFDM is still superior to that of conventional single-user 4QAM-OFDM. Both single-user HS-OFDM and multi-user DPDM-HS-OFDM successfully achieve 2Gbps/75m data transmission, indicating that the DPDM-HS-OFDM scheme is of great importance in bandwidth-limited UWOC systems and has guiding significance to underwater wireless optical multiple access.

CC2530-Based Wireless Data Long-Distance Communication Simulation Design and Application

With the rapid development of IoT, low-power wireless networks are becoming more and more important in engineering applications. For different IoT applications, a variety of corresponding low-power wireless technologies are studied and used. Among them, ZigBee technology is widely used for wireless data long-distance communication networks that require low-power consumption, low communication rate and large capacity self-organizing networks. However, the standard ZigBee module is limited by the large noise factor of the receiver and the small radiation power of the transmitter in the module, which cannot meet the requirements of long-distance communication. In this paper, we combine RF and communication technologies to design a long-range, low-power transceiver based on ZigBee technology for wireless data long-range communication simulation design and application. Experimental results show that the model in the urban area of 500[Formula: see text]m range, the system’s packet loss rate is kept at a low 0.03 or so, and the average Rssi is kept above and below [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]dBm, which can meet the general communication requirements and achieve the expected communication effect. Under the same packet rate, the model combines the improved AODVjr and Cluster_Tree algorithms, and the packet delivery rate can reach 98.5%, which greatly extends the wireless data long-distance communication life.

Evaluating the Impact of a Pediatric Inpatient Social Care Program in a Community Hospital.

To evaluate the impact of implementing a stakeholder-informed social risk screening and social service referral system in a community hospital setting. We implemented a stakeholder-informed social care program at a community hospital in April 2022. The evaluation included patients aged 0 to 17 years admitted to the pediatric unit between April 2021 and March 2022 (1 year preimplementation) and between April 2022 and March 2023 (1 year postimplementation). For a random subset of 232 preimplementation and 218 postimplementation patients, we performed manual data extraction, documenting program process measures and preliminary effectiveness outcomes. We used χ square and Wilcoxon rank tests to compare outcomes between the preimplementation and postimplementation groups. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the preliminary effectiveness of the social care program in identifying social risks. Screening rates were higher in the postimplementation group for nearly all social domains. Compared with preimplementation, the postimplementation group had higher rates of social risks identified (17.4% vs 7.8% [P < .01]: adjusted odds ratio 2.9 [95% confidence interval 1.5-5.5]) on multivariate testing. Social work consults were completed more frequently and earlier for the postimplementation group (13.8.% vs 5.6% [P < .01]) and median (19 hours vs 25 hours [P = .03]), respectively. Rates of communication of social risks in discharge summaries were higher in the postimplementation group (46.8% vs 8.2% [P < .001]). The implementation of a stakeholder-informed social care program within a community hospital setting led to the increased identification of social risks and social work consultations and improved timeliness of social work consultations and written communication of social risks in discharge summaries for primary care providers.

High-performance deep-sea long-range underwater acoustic communication: Deconvolved conventional beamforming based approach

To address the challenges posed by large propagation loss and severe multipath delay spread, while aiming to improve communication rates in long-range underwater acoustic (UWA) communication, this paper introduces a novel approach: multi-beam (MB) Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) based on deconvolved conventional beamforming (dCv). The proposed method establishes a signal processing framework for UWA channel receivers, wherein received signals corresponding to each angle beam are isolated and concentrated using the dCv technique. Subsequently, the separated signals from each angle undergo maximal-ratio combining (MRC) channel equalization followed by demodulation. Compared to conventional single-beam (SB) processing methods, the proposed approach capitalizes on multipath diversity gain achieved by combining MB outputs originating from various arrival angles. Moreover, employing dCv processing demonstrates superior performance compared to popularly employed beamforming techniques, especially when dealing with paths arriving from closely aligned angles. Additionally, the array beamforming utilized significantly enhances the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of each beam output, mitigating the elevated error rates in channel estimation associated with combining low SNR signals received from individual elements. Simulation results utilizing BELLHOP and experimental data from the South China Sea showcase notably improved bit error rate (BER) performance for the proposed method compared to SB equalization, MB-MRC equalization based on conventional beamforming (CBF), minimum variance distortionless response (MVDR), and worst-case performance optimization (WCPO), as well as standard MRC equalization techniques. The proposed receiver achieves error-free decoding results at a communication distance of 80 km with a data rate of 247 bps.

Which clinician responses to emotion are associated with more positive patient experiences of communication?

ObjectivesTo identify communication strategies that may improve clinician-patient interactions, we assessed the association between clinician response to emotion and patient ratings of communication. MethodsFrom a cohort of 1817 clinician-patient encounters, we designed a retrospective case-control study by identifying 69 patients who rated their interpersonal care as low-quality and 69 patients who rated their care as high-quality. We used the Verona Coding Definitions of Emotional Sequences (VR-CoDES) to identify patient emotional expressions and clinician responses. Using mixed-effects logistic regression, we evaluated the association between clinician responses to patients’ emotions and patient ratings of their interpersonal care. ResultsIn adjusted analyses, explicit responses that reduced space for further emotional communication were associated with high ratings of care (OR 1.94, 95% CI 1.25, 2.99); non-explicit responses providing additional space were associated with low ratings (OR 0.54, 95% CI 0.36–0.82). In terms of specific response types, neutral/passive responses were associated with low ratings (OR 0.59, 95% CI 0.39–0.90), whereas giving information/advice was associated with high ratings (OR, 95% 1.91 CI 1.17–3.1). ConclusionsPatients may prefer responses to their expressed emotions that demonstrate clinician engagement, with or without expressions of empathy. Practice ImplicationsThese findings may inform educational interventions to improve clinician-patient communication.

Joint resource allocation and beamforming design for RIS-aided symbiotic radio networks: A DRL approach

In this paper, we investigate a Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS)-assisted secure Symbiosis Radio (SR) network to address the information leakage of the primary transmitter (PTx) to potential eavesdroppers. Specifically, the RIS serves as a secondary transmitter in the SR network to ensure the security of the communication between the PTx and the Primary Receiver (PRx), and simultaneously transmits its information to the PTx concurrently by configuring the phase shifts. Considering the presence of multiple eavesdroppers and uncertain channels in practical scenarios, we jointly optimize the active beamforming of PTx and the phase shifts of RIS to maximize the secrecy energy efficiency of RIS-supported SR networks while satisfying the quality of service requirement and the secure communication rate. To solve this complicated non-convex stochastic optimization problem, we propose a secure beamforming method based on Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO), which is an efficient deep reinforcement learning algorithm, to find the optimal beamforming strategy against eavesdroppers. Simulation results show that the proposed PPO-based method is able to achieve fast convergence and realize the secrecy energy efficiency gain by up to 22% when compared to the considered benchmarks.

Double the data rate in underwater acoustic communication using OFDM based on subcarrier power modulation

AbstractUnderwater communication is one of the most important and difficult challenges facing researchers due to the high attenuation of the signal, communication with the surface because of the harsh medium of water, and data transmission performance degradation as a result of various effects. Underwater acoustic communication (UWA) has a low data rate, which describes the disadvantage of this type of communication. In addition, it has a low bandwidth range and high latency but has a long transmission range as an advantage. Multicarrier wireless transmission systems increase the data rate by sending the data using more than one carrier. We proposed a noncoherent orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) method to increase the data rate in UWA communication systems. In addition, doubling the data rate in the OFDM using Subcarrier Power Modulation (OFDM-SPM) system can save half of the bandwidth. The MATLAB simulation program was used to implement the system in the underwater acoustic environment to increase its throughput. The proposed design uses Differential Phase Shift Keying (DPSK) with power control, and the data stream is transmitted through two-dimensional modulation schemes, the DPSK, and the power level of each subcarrier in the OFDM system with cyclic prefix (CP). The underwater channel was designed using a Rician fading multipath with a spreading loss formula as a function of distance and frequency. We designed an equalizer at the receiver side to recover the original signal as a function of three parameters which are: the channel effect as a rate between transmitting and receiving symbols, the Rician channel response, and the UWA spreading loss. OFDM-Subcarrier Power Modulation (OFDM-SPM) using the proposed equalizer performed better than the theoretical OFDM-SPM in the Rayleigh channel. The designed equalizer increased the performance of the OFDM-SPM system by 25% which helped to enhance the system’s throughput and doubled the data rate compared with the OFDM system, doubling the data rate using OFDM-SPM had been validated in laboratory experiments in the Time domain.

Frequency-multiplexed on-demand storage in five modes of atomic frequency comb through simultaneous application of control pulses.

In quantum communication with quantum repeaters, multiplexed quantum memory is expected to enhance communication rates. When using an atomic frequency comb (AFC) for on-demand storage, the frequency mode number is often limited by the optical power of the control pulses. Here, using a space-coupled waveguide electro-optic modulator, we increased the output power, allowing us to apply control pulses to multiple modes simultaneously. Further, through enhancement of an experimental setup that increases power density, we increased the number of modes. Consequently, we pioneered, to the best of our knowledge, on-demand storage using five modes of AFC. This technology is a significant achievement toward frequency-multiplexed on-demand quantum memory.

Enhancing medical students' science communication skills: from the perspective of new media.

With the development of science over the years, people have increasingly realized the importance of science communication. Unfortunately, very little research has focused on helping medical students develop the capabilities of science communication. To improve medical students' science communication and evaluate the effectiveness of New Media through mobile clients in health science communication, a competition was held among medical undergraduates. Outstanding works were selected for publication on our official health science communication WeChat account. Furthermore, the participants volunteered to complete a questionnaire survey to help us assess students' awareness of science communication. Our analysis revealed that students had a strong willingness to serve society and to participate in science communication work. Students generally agreed that science communication work had excellent effects on professional knowledge and related skills. In addition, the correlation results showed that the greater students' willingness to participate in health science communication was, the greater their sense of gain. New Media effectively expand the influence of students' popular science works. Our findings suggest that competition in science communication has a positive impact on enhancing students' awareness and capabilities in science communication. In addition, New Media are an effective way to improve students' scientific communication efficiency. However, we also noted that students' participation rate and enthusiasm for scientific communication were not high. Further research is needed to determine the reasons for this situation and potential strategies to further improve students' science communication.NEW & NOTEWORTHY The science communication competition had a positive impact on helping medical students develop awareness and capabilities for science communication. In addition, New Media are an effective way to improve students' scientific communication efficiency.

Emission characteristics of pulse CNT cold cathode X-ray source combined with channel electron multiplier

Carbon nanotube (CNT)-based field emission X-ray source with the advantage of fast start-up response offers the chance to achieve high-frequency X-ray emission. In this study, a high-frequency random pulse X-ray source of CNT cold cathode combined with a channel electron multiplier (CEM) was built, and its direct current (DC) and pulse emission characteristics were tested. The DC measurement results were used for parameter selection for performing pulse experiments. During the DC test, with the conditions of 2.2 kV CEM bias voltage and 25 kV anode voltage, the anode currents are 141, 250, and 300 μA at grid voltages of 290, 387.6, and 432.2 V, respectively; the corresponding grid field values are 1.45, 1.94, and 2.16 V/μm. During the pulse test, the amplitude–frequency response of the X-ray source reaches 3.58 MHz at 3 dB. The developed pulse X-ray source was introduced into the X-ray communication (XCOM), and the experimental communication rate reached 6 Mbps with the bit-error-rate of 1.1 × 10−3. The developed high-frequency pulse CNT-CEM X-ray source has potential applications in XCOM, high-speed X-ray imaging, and other fields.

SFL-MDrone: Synchronous federated learning enabled multi drones

UAVs or Drones can be used to support wireless communication by acting as flying or mobile Base Stations for the accumulation of the different types of data to train the models. However, in traditional or DL-based UAVs, the raw data is sent from the devices to the centralized server, which causes problems in terms of the privacy of the devices and the UAVs’ communication resources or limited processing. Therefore, the issue with DL-based UAVs is that sending the original data to the centralized body raises questions about security and privacy. The transmission of distributed, unprocessed data from the drones to the cloud, including interactive media information data types, requires a significant amount of network bandwidth and more energy, which has an enormous effect on several trade-offs, including communication rates and computation latencies. Data packet loss caused by asynchronous transmission, which doesn’t prevent peer-to-peer communication, is a concern with AFL-based UAVs. Therefore, in order to address the aforementioned issues, we have introduced SFL-based UAVs that focus on creating algorithms in which the models simultaneously update the server as they wait for all of the chosen devices to communicate. The proposed framework enables a variety of devices, including mobile and UAV devices, to train or learn their algorithms for machine learning before updating the models and parameters simultaneously to servers or manned aerial data centers for model buildup without transferring their original private information. This decreases packet loss and privacy threats while also enhancing round effectiveness as well as model accuracy. The comparative analysis of AFL and SFL techniques in terms of accuracy, global rounds, and communication rounds are offered. Simulation findings suggest that the proposed methodology improves in terms of global rounds and accuracy.

Design of Indoor Visible Light Communication PAM4 System

Four-level pulse amplitude modulation (PAM4) can transmit more information in the same symbol interval, effectively improving the information transmission rate and frequency band utilization of visible light communication (VLC). This paper proposes a method for encoding and decoding the PAM4 signal based on FPGA. The PAM4 signal is studied and analyzed under different channel noise models. The research results show that the bit error rate (BER) performance of the PAM4 signal is the best under the additive noise model. The influence of the multiplicative noise on the BER of the PAM4 signal is much greater than that of the additive noise. The BER performance of the PAM4 signal depends on the variance of the noise data. The greater the variance, the worse the BER performance. At the same time, an indoor VLC system based on PAM4 is designed. The simulation results verify that the system scheme is feasible and provides a way to further realize high-speed signal transmission.