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Living in a world of unstable and fluctuating economy has put children’s development at risk particularly children from low-income families. Hence their development should be on alert. The concern regarding online learning is crucial towards children’s emotional development as it can positively or negatively affect them. In the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA), no other performance is relevant due to high-speed change. Children as young generations today have more disruptive behaviours causing adults to be fearful in dealing with their unruly behaviour. This study discovered the impact of the current environmental situation of uncertainty and parent-child relationship on children’s emotional development. In view of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and preventive measures, the study was conducted with parents’ consent using an online survey tool administered using Google Form. The quantitative survey comprised general population-CORE (GP-CORE) and perceived stress scale (PSS) questionnaires from 108 respondents studying in primary schools around urban areas in Selangor, Malaysia. The findings were analysed and described descriptively. Findings showed that children are greatly affected by parents’ job loss and low-income households’ instability, causing emotional stress when learning from home. Therefore, the study can be the mechanism to aid the educational system in emphasising emotional learning in school.

ObjectiveAlthough the number of individuals contracted with hepatitis C virus infection is increasing, there is limited research locally on acceptance and disclosure of diagnosis among hepatitis C patient. This study aimed to explore views and experiences of patient following the diagnosis of hepatitis C infection at a tertiary centre in Kedah state, Malaysia. MethodTwenty participants with hepatitis C infection participated in semi-structured, face to face interviews on their views and experience of a recent hepatitis C diagnosis. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and translated before data analysis. Content analysis was performed on the translated interview, followed by a systematic classification of data by major themes. ResultsFour main themes emerged (1) Understanding about hepatitis C infection, (2) First reaction to the diagnosis, (3) Accepting their diagnosis, and (4) Disclosing their disease status to others. Most participants had limited understanding of the disease due to the lack of information received. While some of them well accepted their diagnosis, many had expressed their unhappiness, distressed and regret following the diagnosis. Due to fear of negative response or stigma that follows with the diagnosis of hepatitis C, many participants were keeping the diagnosis to themselves. For those who had disclosed their hepatitis status to others, they experienced discrimination and rejection from family members and co-workers. ConclusionStudy findings indicate that those with hepatitis C infection often had a misunderstanding about the disease, hiding the diagnosis from others and facing stigma in their family relationships and work environments.

BackgroundPatients with positive immunochemical faecal occult blood test results were found to have poor compliance for a subsequent colonoscopy procedure. This study was conducted to explore patients’ perceived deterrence for colonoscopy following a positive stool test. MethodsUsing qualitative study method, a phone interview was conducted with 16 patients to elicit their views on the reasons for failure to attend the colonoscopy procedure following a positive stool test. The interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and translated before proceeded with the data analysis. Content analysis was made on the translated interview, followed by systematic classification of data by major themes. ResultsReasons for nonattendance were categorized under five main themes; unnecessary test, fear of the procedure, logistic obstacles (subthemes; time constraint, transportation problem), social influences, and having other health priority. Lacking in information about the procedure during the referral process was identified to cause misperception and unnecessary worry towards colonoscopy. Fear of the procedure was commonly cited by female respondents while logistic issues pertaining to time constraint were raised by working respondents. ConclusionsMore effective communication between patients and health care providers are warranted to avoid misconception regarding colonoscopy procedure. Support from primary care doctors, customer-friendly appointment system, use of educational aids and better involvement from family members were among the strategies to increase colonoscopy compliance.

Traditionally, it is assumed that source coding is perfect and therefore, the redundancy of the source encoded bit-stream is zero. However, in reality, this is not the case as the existing source encoders are imperfect and yield residual redundancy at the output. The residual redundancy can be exploited by using Joint Source Channel Coding (JSCC) with Markov chain as the source. In several studies, the statistical knowledge of the sources has been assumed to be perfectly available at the receiver. Although the result was better in terms of the BER performance, practically, the source correlation knowledge were not always available at the receiver and thus, this could affect the reliability of the outcome. The source correlation on all rows and columns of the 2D sources were well exploited by using a modified Bahl-Cocke-Jelinek-Raviv (BCJR) algorithm in the decoder. A parameter estimation technique was used jointly with the decoder to estimate the source correlation knowledge. Hence, this research aims to investigate the parameter estimation for 2D JSCC system which reflects a practical scenario where the source correlation knowledge are not always available. We compare the performance of the proposed joint decoding and estimation technique with the ideal 2D JSCC system with perfect knowledge of the source correlation knowledge. Simulation results reveal that our proposed coding scheme performs very close to the ideal 2D JSCC system.

A promising system of Generalized Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform Non-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (GIDFT n-OFDM) system can fulfil the requirement of supporting higher data rate in Fifth Generation (5G) technology. However, this system experience High Peak to Average Power Ratio (PAPR) due to massive number of subcarriers signal is transmitted. In this paper, three types of usual PAPR reduction techniques were applied in GIDFT n-OFDM system which are Clipping, Partial transmit Transform (PTS) and Selective Mapping (SLM). The system performance is compared and evaluated using Complementary Cumulative Distribution Function (CCDF) plot. Simulation results show that SLM technique give significant reduction of PAPR 9 dB of the original performance.