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Communication intelligence (COMINT) refers to the interception of communication signals to extract intelligence from the information enclosed in the transmission. The intercept receiver incorporates robust blind signal detection and estimation techniques to detect a certain type of signal, from which intelligence may be extracted. Direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) communication signals are characteristically weak and hidden in background noise, which impose a challenge for blind interception. Scrambling disrupts the cyclostationary feature of DSSS signals, which makes blind interception an extremely demanding contest. If some a-priori parameter information is known, semi-blind techniques may be leveraged to facilitate non-cooperative interception. A semi-blind method based upon data matrix correlation is proposed in this paper to estimate the scrambling code. This is done to descramble the received DSSS signal before estimation of spread spectrum parameters. The proposed methodology requires code length to precisely estimate the scrambling code. It is quite noteworthy that although the proposed methodology is formulated for DSSS signals, it can be flexibly used for other signals as well. Analytical and numerical results clearly highlight that the proposed method can estimate scrambling code at low SNRs with substantial estimation accuracy and reduced computational cost.

Background Community Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) is defined as a clinical diagnosis of pneumonia in a previously healthy child due to an infection which has been acquired outside hospital. It is the major cause of paediatric hospital admissions worldwide. Doing blood tests like CRP and white cell counts routinely in all the patients admitted with mild to moderate CAP is not recommended although in severe cases this can vary. Following the BTS guidelines, can prevent un-necessary burden on the laboratory and health care system and can reduce the duration of stay for patients admitted in Paediatric ward with mild to moderate community acquired pneumonia. It was observed that large number of children admitted with CAP routinely undergo blood investigations including white blood count & CRP. We therefore decided to conduct an audit and implement the changes to prevent unnecessary blood investigations in children and to reduce the workload on Pathology department. Objectives To establish if we are following the BTS guidelines for mild to moderate community acquired pneumonia regarding white cell count and CRP in children admitted to the Paediatric Ward in Letterkenny University Hospital. Methods Data was collected from the Medical Records of children who have been admitted to the Paediatric Ward during the period 1st Dec 2016 to 28th Feb. 2017. Children more than one year of age who were diagnosed as mild to moderate community acquired pneumonia as per BTS guidelines were included in the study. Data was collected using a short questionnaire using the audit tool provided by the BTS guideline. Results A total of 49 patients chart were obtained. Out of these, 18 patients were excluded from the study, and 31 patients met the diagnostic criteria for inclusion. Out of these 31 patients, 26 patients (83.87%) had CRP done on them although it was documented that the children had community acquired pneumonia. All these 26 patients also had white cell count done on them as well. Conclusion There is poor compliance as per BTS guidelines regarding routine CRP, White cell count in patients with mild to moderate community acquired pneumonia. Recommendations British Thoracic society guidelines should be followed properly in managing patients with childhood community acquired pneumonia. Un-necessary CRP and white cell count should not be done in mild to moderate community acquired pneumonia To conduct regular teaching sessions on recent guidelines to keep updated all doctors working in Paediatric unit in Letterkenny University Hospital

Background Community Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) is defined as a clinical diagnosis of pneumonia in a previously healthy child due to an infection which has been acquired outside hospital. It is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in children worldwide and responsible for large number of hospital admissions. British Thoracic society (BTS) has classified CAP into mild to moderate and severe CAP. Chest X-ray should not be considered a routine investigation in children thought to have mild to moderate CAP. It was observed that large number of children admitted with CAP undergo chest radiography. We therefore decided to conduct an audit and implement the changes to prevent unnecessary exposure of X-rays in children and to reduce the workload on Radiology department. Objectives To establish if we are following the BTS guidelines for mild to moderate community acquired pneumonia in children (update 2011), regarding chest X-Ray in children admitted as in-patients to the Paediatric Ward in Letterkenny University Hospital.Methods: Data was collected from the Medical Records of children who have been admitted to the Paediatric Ward during the period 1st Dec 2016 to 28th Feb. 2017. Children more than one year of age who were diagnosed as mild to moderate community acquired pneumonia as per BTS guidelines were included in the study. Data was collected using a short questionnaire using the audit tool provided by the BTS guideline. Results A total of 49 patients chart were obtained. Out of these, 18 patients were excluded from the study, and 31 patients met the diagnostic criteria for inclusion. Among these 31 patients, 27 patients (87.09%) had chest x-ray done during admission. Most of these patients had unnecessary chest x-ray done for them, also there was no clear documentation on the reason the chest x-rays were carried out. Conclusion There was very poor adherence to BTS guidelines regarding Chest X-Ray in children with mild to moderate community acquired pneumonia. Recommendations 1). British Thoracic society guidelines should be followed appropriately in managing children with CAP. 2). Un-necessary Chest X-Rays on admission should not be done routinely in mild to moderate CAP. 3). There should be regular teaching sessions on recent BTS guidelines to keep updated all doctors working in Paediatric unit in Letterkenny University Hospital.

Background Childhood community acquired pneumonia (CAP) is one of the main reasons for admissions in Pediatrics department. British thoracic society classifies CAP as mild to moderate and severe CAP. Doing blood Cultures routinely in all the in patients with mild to moderate CAP is not recommended although in severe CAP this can vary. Objectives To establish if we are following BTS guidelines for mild to moderate community acquired pneumonia regarding Blood culture in children admitted as in-patients to the Paediatric Ward in Letterkenny University Hospital Methods Criteria selection Children more than one year of age Mild to moderate community acquired pneumonia as per BTS guidelines. Population/Sample Identification Convenience sampling was used. Data was collected from the Medical Records of children who had been discharged from the Paediatric Ward during the period 1stDec 2016 to 28thFeb. 2017. Data Collection Sources Data was collected from the medical record. Data Abstraction Questionnaire Data was collected using a short questionnaire. Data Type Data was collected on the following areas: Blood Culture done or not Method of Analyzing Data Data was analyzed by the auditor using Microsoft Excel Results Total number of charts: 49 Charts excluded: 18 Charts included in audit: 31 Blood cultures done in 15 out of 31 patients which is 48.3% Conclusion There is poor compliance as per BTS guidelines regarding Blood Culture in patients with mild to moderate community acquired pneumonia Recommendations British Thoracic society guidelines should be followed properly managing patients with childhood community acquired pneumonia. Un–necessary Blood Cultures should not be done routinely in mild to moderate community acquired pneumonia There should be regular teaching sessions on recent guidelines to keep updated all doctors working in Paediatric unit in Letterkenny General Hospital

Background Vein of galen, is a cause of congestive cardiac failure. It can be difficult to diagnose as the clinical picture can mimic the congenital heart defects. Neonates and young infants with vein of galen can present with intractable heart failure. Objectives Vein of galen can present with features of congestive heart failure. Presence of congenital heart defect can make it difficult to diagnose. Thorough physical examination can help in early diagnosis. Methods Patient history and examination retrieved from the patient notes and images retrieved from the system. Results 5 months old child with atrial septal defect with partial anomalous pulmonary venous drainage was seen in cardiology clinic and based on failure to thrive with congenital heart defects and respiratory distress, he was admitted to the paediatric ward with the impression of heart failure. As there was congenital heart defect so the heart failure was thought to be from the congenital heart defect and it was difficult to manage as well. Later on, examination picked up a cranial bruit, MRI brain showed vein of galen malformation. Child was transferred to tertiary neurosurgery and glue embolization was performed which was uneventful. Conclusion This case illustrates the presentation of vein of galen with heart failure in a child with congenital heart defects. There was cardiac defect so that was thought to be the cause of heart failure but later on examination picked up cranial bruit and MRI brain confirmed the vein of galen malformation.

Background Murmur is one of the commonest reasons for referral to paediatric cardiologists. This has caused a long waiting time for clinic and increased parental anxiety. Objectives To assess the local cardiology services for suspected congenital heart diseases in neonates and infants at Princess Alexandra Hospital Harlow, Essex, UK Methods Retrospective data was collected from period of May 2018 to November 2018 from online database and patient notes including all the neonates and infants referred and seen in paediatric cardiology clinic during this period. Results Total 30 patients were studied. 56.6% were females and 43.3% were males. The mean waiting time was 4 months. Commonest reason for referral was heart murmur in 40% patients and 2nd common reason was family history of congenital heart diseases in 30%. Echocardiogram was normal in 20% and the commonest defects were VSD and ASD 20% each. Amongst those having heart murmurs 16.6% were normal and discharged, 8.3% had PFO and discharged and 8.3% had tiny PDA. Our local referral pathways recommend discussion with consultant before referral but only 10% patients were discussed with the consultant and 83.3% had no documentation regarding discussion with consultant. In only 105 of referrals the local referral pathway was followed. Conclusion The commonest reason for referral to cardiology clinic for infants and neonates is heart murmur. If we develop our local murmur guidelines then it will be easy to decide whom we need to see in cardiology clinic and this can avoid un-necessary cardiology clinic referrals without missing the pathologies. We intend to develop our local murmur guidelines as a next step to quality improvement project. Recommendations Create awareness amongst doctors about cardiology clinic referral form for neonates and infants with suspected congenital heart disease through teaching sessions and during induction of new doctors. The referral form should be duly signed by the consultant making referral and the cardiology consultant accepting and the signed form should be attached in the patient notes in correspondence. We need to develop out local cardiology guidelines for neonates and infants with heart murmur and/or suspected congenital heart disease so that un-necessary referrals can be avoided without missing the congenital heart defects.

The detection and identification of humans and concealed objects by through wall radars is affected by wall propagation effects such as attenuation and multipath. Several works, in the past, have provided solutions for mitigating wall effects based on either prior information of the wall parameters or signal processing solutions for separating wall interference from the direct signal from the target to the radar. In this paper, we propose a machine learning based method-denoising autoencoders-to mitigate wall interference effects and for reconstructing an image resembling the ground truth in free space conditions. This method relies on training the algorithm to denoise corrupted through-wall radar images into clean line-of-sight images. We have demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed solution using simulated narrowband Doppler-Azimuth images in free space and through-wall conditions. We simulated the propagation through diverse wall conditions using stochastic finite difference time domain techniques. Next, we tested the algo­rithm on measured frontal (Azimuth-Elevation) images obtained from Walabot — a wideband, low power, radar with a planar antenna array. Both the measurement and simulation results showed a low error between the denoised reconstructed images and the clean line-of-sight images.