Linking gender, climate change and security in the Pacific Islands Region: A systematic review.

This systematic review aims to address gaps in understanding how concepts of gender, climate change and security are given meaning and linked in empirical scholarship within the Pacific Islands Region. The review assesses the 53 articles returned through Web of Science, SCOPUS and ProQuest databases that are derived from empirical research and refer to gender, climate change and security. The findings indicate that this is an emerging topic in a region that is one of the most vulnerable to climate change across the globe. Most frequently gender analysis is given superficial treatment; there is limited literature that connects gendered vulnerabilities to historical legacies and structural inequalities; and women's critical roles that create security are often overlooked and devalued. The review indicates that greater work is needed to question perceived threats to security and to reveal how climate change, gendered institutions, systems and spaces, historical legacies and politics interact to construct security in the Pacific Islands Region.

Patient satisfaction regarding biosecurity protocols in the face of COVID-19, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Costa Rica / Satisfacción de los pacientes respecto a los protocolos de bioseguridad ante el COVID-19, Facultad de Odontología, Universidad de Costa Rica

Abstract Biosecurity protocols are particularly important in dental practice. The aim of this research was to determine the level of patient satisfaction regarding biosecurity protocols used in the School of Dentistry of the University of Costa Rica, to avoid COVID-19 infections during dental care. A survey was sent by email to all patients who received dental consultations at the School of Dentistry between April and September 2021. They were asked about sociodemographic variables (sex, age range, approved educational level, and place of origin), as well as whether they considered safe the protocols used during the dental consultation to avoid COVID-19 infections. Descriptive statistics were performed proving the absolute and relative frequency of the socio-demographic variables and the satisfaction of patients with the protocols used. A Chi-square test was used to determine if there was a difference in patient satisfaction with biosecurity protocols to avoid COVID-19 infections during dental care and sociodemographic variables. 95.9% of the respondents considered the biosafety protocols used to be safe and there was no statistically significant difference between patient satisfaction with the protocols and sociodemographic variables. A large majority of patients who come to the UCR School of Dentistry are satisfied with the biosecurity protocols used to avoid COVID-19 infections during dental care.

Resumen Los protocolos de bioseguridad son muy importante en la consulta odontológica. El objetivo de esta investigación fue conocer el nivel de satisfacción de los pacientes respecto a los protocolos de bioseguridad utilizados en la Facultad de Odontología para evitar los contagios por COVID-19 durante la atención dental. Se envió una encuesta por medio del correo electrónico a todos los pacientes que recibieron consulta dental en la Facultad de Odontología entre abril y setiembre del 2021. Se les consultó sobre variables sociodemográficas (sexo, rango de edad, nivel educativo aprobado y lugar de procedencia), así como si consideraban seguros los protocolos empleados durante la consulta dental para evitar los contagios por COVID-19. Se realizó estadística descriptiva estableciendo la frecuencia absoluta y relativa de las variables sociodemográficas y la satisfacción de los pacientes con los protocolos empleados en la Facultad. Se utilizó la prueba de chi cuadrado para determinar si existía diferencia en la satisfacción de los pacientes respecto a los protocolos de bioseguridad para evitar los contagios por COVID-19 durante la atención dental y las variables sociodemográficos. El 95.9% de los encuestados consideró seguros los protocolos de bioseguridad empleados y no hubo diferencia estadísticamente significativa entre la satisfacción de los pacientes con los protocolos y las variables sociodemográficas. Una gran mayoría de los pacientes que acuden a la Facultad de Odontología UCR están satisfechos con los protocolos de bioseguridad empleados para evitar los contagios por COVID-19 durante la atención dental.

Effective Face Detector Based on YOLOv5 and Superresolution Reconstruction.

The application of face detection and recognition technology in security monitoring systems has made a huge contribution to public security. Face detection is an essential first step in many face analysis systems. In complex scenes, the accuracy of face detection would be limited because of the missing and false detection of small faces, due to image quality, face scale, light, and other factors. In this paper, a two-level face detection model called SR-YOLOv5 is proposed to address some problems of dense small faces in actual scenarios. The research first optimized the backbone and loss function of YOLOv5, which is aimed at achieving better performance in terms of mean average precision (mAP) and speed. Then, to improve face detection in blurred scenes or low-resolution situations, we integrated image superresolution technology on the detection head. In addition, some representative deep-learning algorithm based on face detection is discussed by grouping them into a few major categories, and the popular face detection benchmarks are enumerated in detail. Finally, the wider face dataset is used to train and test the SR-YOLOv5 model. Compared with multitask convolutional neural network (MTCNN), Contextual Multi-Scale Region-based CNN (CMS-RCNN), Finding Tiny Faces (HR), Single Shot Scale-invariant Face Detector (S3FD), and TinaFace algorithms, it is verified that the proposed model has higher detection precision, which is 0.7%, 0.6%, and 2.9% higher than the top one. SR-YOLOv5 can effectively use face information to accurately detect hard-to-detect face targets in complex scenes.

80 questions for UK biological security.

Multiple national and international trends and drivers are radically changing what biological security means for the United Kingdom (UK). New technologies present novel opportunities and challenges, and globalisation has created new pathways and increased the speed, volume and routes by which organisms can spread. The UK Biological Security Strategy (2018) acknowledges the importance of research on biological security in the UK. Given the breadth of potential research, a targeted agenda identifying the questions most critical to effective and coordinated progress in different disciplines of biological security is required. We used expert elicitation to generate 80 policy-relevant research questions considered by participants to have the greatest impact on UK biological security. Drawing on a collaboratively-developed set of 450 questions, proposed by 41 experts from academia, industry and the UK government (consulting 168 additional experts) we subdivided the final 80 questions into six categories: bioengineering; communication and behaviour; disease threats (including pandemics); governance and policy; invasive alien species; and securing biological materials and securing against misuse. Initially, the questions were ranked through a voting process and then reduced and refined to 80 during a one-day workshop with 35 participants from a variety of disciplines. Consistently emerging themes included: the nature of current and potential biological security threats, the efficacy of existing management actions, and the most appropriate future options. The resulting questions offer a research agenda for biological security in the UK that can assist the targeting of research resources and inform the implementation of the UK Biological Security Strategy. These questions include research that could aid with the mitigation of Covid-19, and preparation for the next pandemic. We hope that our structured and rigorous approach to creating a biological security research agenda will be replicated in other countries and regions. The world, not just the UK, is in need of a thoughtful approach to directing biological security research to tackle the emerging issues.

"If you are on duty, you may be afraid to come out to attend to a person": fear of crime and security challenges in maternal acute care in Nigeria from a realist perspective.

BACKGROUND: Maternal and Child Health is a global priority. Access and utilization of facility-based health services remain a challenge in low and middle-income countries. Evidence on barriers to providing and accessing services omits information on the role of security within facilities. This paper explores the role of security in the provision and use of maternal health services in primary healthcare facilities in Nigeria. METHODS: Study was carried out in Anambra state, Nigeria. Qualitative data were initially collected from 35 in-depth interviews and 24 focus groups with purposively identified key informants. Information gathered was used to build a programme theory that was tested with another round of interviews (17) and focus group (4) discussions. Data analysis and reporting were based on the Context-Mechanism-Outcome heuristic of Realist Evaluation methodology. RESULTS: The presence of a male security guard in the facility was the most important security factor that facilitated provision and uptake of services. Others include perimeter fencing, lighting and staff accommodation. Lack of these components constrained provision and use of services, by impacting on behaviour of staff and patients. Security concerns of facility staff who did not feel safe to let in people into unguarded facilities, mirrored those of pregnant women who did not utilize health facilities because of fear of not being let in and attended to by facility staff. CONCLUSION: Health facility security should be key consideration in programme planning, to avert staff and women's fear of crime which currently constrains provision and use of maternal healthcare at health facilities.

Evaluating the Perceived Efficacy of Randomized Security Measures at Airports.

Both the increase in traveler numbers and the heightened threat posed by terrorism in recent years represent significant challenges to airport security measures. To ensure that a high level of security is maintained, randomized security checks have been proposed as a promising alternative to traditional security approaches. The use of randomized checks means that only a specific number of people are selected for security screening. However, the likely effects of such a change in security procedures on travelers' security perceptions and on the deterrence of criminal activities remain unclear. Thus, the present study examines how varying the percentage of people screened during security checks influences people's security perceptions. In two online experiments, the participants were asked to imagine that they sought to smuggle an explosive dummy past an airport security check. The only information provided was the number of people screened during security checks, which was manipulated between-subjects in the first experiment and within-subjects in the second experiment. The participants then had to rate their security perception (i.e., the perceived likelihood of successfully smuggling the explosive dummy). The findings show that people perceive traditional security checks to be safer than randomized checks, irrespective of whether 90% or 30% of people are screened. Hence, if randomized security checks would indeed be implemented, it would automatically lead to a decreased perception of security. Furthermore, this decreased security perception might lead to an actual reduction in security, as the deterrence of criminal activities could also be reduced.

Role of security guards in Code Black events in medical and surgical settings: A retrospective chart audit.

The prevalence of security guards in health care settings is growing worldwide. There is a need to explore and understand their role and actions to inform policy and training and support least restrictive practices in health care. The aim of this study was to conduct a retrospective chart audit of security guard logs to investigate security guard involvement in Code Blacks, called in emergency situations of personal threats including patient and/or visitor violence, in medical and surgical wards in a large metropolitan health network in South Australia. Security guards attended 1664 Code Blacks (0.63% of admissions) over the 2.5-year study period. Events were more frequently reported in medical than surgical wards. The most common reasons for security guard attendance were patients threatening/harming staff and patients threatening/harming themselves. The most frequent security guard actions were "Attend only/standby," "Physical restraint," and "Patient located and returned to the ward." The most frequent outcomes were physical restraint, chemical restraint, and de-escalation respectively. Results highlight the imperative that health services maintain and increase efforts to support least restrictive practice through policy directives and staff training.

A bit toggling approach for AMBTC tamper detection scheme with high image fidelity.

The existing tamper detection schemes for absolute moment block truncation coding (AMBTC) compressed images are able to detect the tampering. However, the marked image qualities of these schemes can be enhanced, and their authentication methods may fail to detect some special tampering. We propose a secure AMBTC tamper detection scheme that preserves high image fidelity with excellent detectability. In the proposed approach, a bit in bitmaps of AMBTC codes is sequentially toggled to generate a set of authentication codes. The one that causes the least distortion is embedded into the quantization levels with the guidance of a key-generated reference table (RT). Without the correct key, the same reference table cannot be constructed. Therefore, the proposed method is able to detect various kinds of malicious tampering, including those special tampering techniques designed for RT-based authentication schemes. The proposed method not only offers better image quality, but also provides an excellent and satisfactory detectability as compared with previous works.

Quantifying the dynamics of failure across science, startups and security.

Human achievements are often preceded by repeated attempts that fail, but little is known about the mechanisms that govern the dynamics of failure. Here, building on previous research relating to innovation1-7, human dynamics8-11 and learning12-17, we develop a simple one-parameter model that mimics how successful future attempts build on past efforts. Solving this model analytically suggests that a phase transition separates the dynamics of failure into regions of progression or stagnation and predicts that, near the critical threshold, agents who share similar characteristics and learning strategies may experience fundamentally different outcomes following failures. Above the critical point, agents exploit incremental refinements to systematically advance towards success, whereas below it, they explore disjoint opportunities without a pattern of improvement. The model makes several empirically testable predictions, demonstrating that those who eventually succeed and those who do not may initially appear similar, but can be characterized by fundamentally distinct failure dynamics in terms of the efficiency and quality associated with each subsequent attempt. We collected large-scale data from three disparate domains and traced repeated attempts by investigators to obtain National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants to fund their research, innovators to successfully exit their startup ventures, and terrorist organizations to claim casualties in violent attacks. We find broadly consistent empirical support across all three domains, which systematically verifies each prediction of our model. Together, our findings unveil detectable yet previously unknown early signals that enable us to identify failure dynamics that will lead to ultimate success or failure. Given the ubiquitous nature of failure and the paucity of quantitative approaches to understand it, these results represent an initial step towards the deeper understanding of the complex dynamics underlying failure.

Family medicine in the service of internal security: morbidity and cost of prescriptions.

BACKGROUND: The study of morbidity and cost of drug prescriptions generated by the primary care physician, with specific populations directs Quality Improvement strategies of care. AIM: To identify acute pathologies in primary care medicine forces for internal security and to study the cost of drug prescription . METHODS: This is a cross-sectional survey during which, we analyzed the medical records (MR) and medical prescriptions (MP)for patients older than 5 years, presenting for acute pathologies, at the first online consultation polyclinic of the internal security forces(ISF) of Mahdia, during the year 2014. Data were collected using a standardized form. We opted for a two-stage sampling the first agreement by taking the second month of each season, the second systematic taking MR from one day to two. RESULTS: We analyzed 701 MR. The average age of the consultants was 37 years with a sex ratio de1,34. Systems, respiratory, digestive, musculoskeletal, skin and cardiovascular, were accumulating 88.3% of acute morbidity diagnosed. The most prescribed therapeutic classes were antipyretics / analgesics (61.6%), antibiotics (42.7%), local treatments oto-rhino-laryngological and throat (28.6%), cough (13.6%), the non steroidal anti inflammatory (12.2%) and mucolytics (11.7%). The median cost of the prescription was 12.070 Tunisian Dinar (TD). The contribution of the patients served at the polyclinic of the FIS of Mahdia, in drug costs, was 35.1%. CONCLUSION: we were able to highlight the specificities of morbidity in the front line at the polyclinic of the FSI of Mahdia , the nature and cost of drug prescription that was equivalent to that of the general population but with better contribution third party payers.

Hands-On Introduction to Synthetic Biology for Security Professionals.

The rapid pace of life sciences innovations and a growing list of nontraditional actors engaging in biological research make it challenging to develop appropriate policies to protect sensitive infrastructures. To address this challenge, we developed a five-day awareness program for security professionals, including laboratory work, site visits, and lectures.

Establishing a theoretical foundation for measuring global health security: a scoping review.

BACKGROUND: Since the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola epidemic, the concept of measuring health security capacity has become increasingly important within the broader context of health systems-strengthening, enhancing responses to public health emergencies, and reducing global catastrophic biological risks. Efforts to regularly and sustainably track the evolution of health security capabilities and capacities over time - while also accounting for political, social, and environmental risks - could help countries progress toward eliminating sources of health insecurity. We sought to aggregate evidence-based principles that capture a country's baseline public health and healthcare capabilities, its health security system performance before and during infectious disease crises, and its broader social, political, security, and ecological risk environments. METHODS: We conducted a scoping review of English-language scholarly and gray literature to identify evidence- and practice-based indicators and proxies for measuring health security at the country level over time. We then used a qualitative coding framework to identify recurrent themes in the literature and synthesize foundational principles for measuring global health security. Documents reviewed included English-language literature published after 2001 until the end of the research period-September 2017-to ensure relevance to the current global health security landscape; literature examining acute infectious disease threats with potential for transnational spread; and literature addressing global health security efforts at the country level. RESULTS: We synthesized four foundational principles for measuring global health security: measurement requires assessment of existing capacities, as well as efforts to build core public health, healthcare, and biosecurity capabilities; assessments of national programs and efforts to mitigate a critical subset of priority threats could inform efforts to generate useful metrics for global health security; there are measurable enabling factors facilitating health security-strengthening efforts; and finally, measurement requires consideration of social, political, and ecological risk environments. CONCLUSION: The themes identified in this review could inform efforts to systematically assess the impacts and effectiveness of activities undertaken to strengthen global health security.

Security interventions are frequently undocumented in emergency department clinical notes.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the documentation of security interventions in ED presentations between clinical notes and security records. METHODS: Presentations (n = 680) were randomly selected from all ED presentations to a public tertiary referral hospital in Queensland, Australia between April 2016 and August 2017 that were perceived by the treating clinician as alcohol-related. Retrospective data, manually extracted from clinical notes and the security service database, were compared for the documentation of any security interventions. Security interventions were defined as observation without physical contact, verbal de-escalation or physical restraint by security officers. RESULTS: Forty-one presentations had security interventions documented in the security services database and, of those, 20 (48.8%) had documentation in the clinical notes. Patients who required security interventions were admitted to hospital in higher proportions compared with those who did not (73.2% vs 26.8%, respectively, P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: The rate of documentation of security interventions in clinical notes was less than 50%. Documentation of critical information, including alerts and risks, in the clinical notes is an essential component of communication that the multi-disciplinary team use to ensure patient safety. Strategies aimed at improving the documentation of security interventions in clinical notes will help to optimise risk management and the safety of patients, staff and visitors along the continuum of care.

How secure are the secure psychiatric units in New South Wales?

OBJECTIVES:: To evaluate the therapeutic security characteristics of the secure forensic mental health inpatient units in New South Wales, Australia. METHODS:: This study evaluated all eight secure inpatient units in New South Wales using a validated tool, the Security Needs Assessment Profile. RESULTS:: A pattern of decreasing therapeutic security across the secure units was found, consistent with their intended security levels, from high security through to open security. However, important inconsistencies across and between levels of security were highlighted. CONCLUSIONS:: This study clarifies the therapeutic security structure of the New South Wales forensic mental health service, which is an essential first step in service development and reform.

Central serous chorioretinopathy: Professional repercussions among agents of the internal security forces.

PURPOSE: To describe the relationship between central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR) and stress in addition to the transient and permanent professional repercussions of this condition among security forces agents. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This is a retrospective, descriptive study of 22 CSCR patients. All patients were interviewed to establish their job status, a stressful triggering event, the number of consultations, absenteeism, the duration of episodes, the number of days off, exemption from certain activities and professional reclassification. All of our patients underwent a complete ophthalmological examination and ancillary testing (OCT optical coherence tomography, fluorescein retinal angiography) to establish the positive diagnosis and to determine the clinical form. RESULTS: During their daily activity, all patients were armed and worked night security duty. They all reported a stressful event just before the onset of the disease. The average visual acuity was 4/10 P6 all forms combined; with a visual acuity between 1 and 2/10 for the chronic form. Visual impairment was associated with absenteeism (mean length of time off was 1.13 months per episode), exemptions from carrying arms or night duty in 36.36% of cases, with professional reclassification in 22.7% of patients. CONCLUSION: CSCR affects psychology and alters the quality of life of patients who are generally young and professionally active. This can interfere with work performance and cause temporary or permanent disability.

Musculoskeletal Injuries Among Female Soldiers Working With Dogs.

INTRODUCTION: Female soldiers serving in the Israeli Defense Forces canine unit may be at increased risk of overuse injuries related to working with military dogs. We hypothesized that this particular type of occupational exposure may lead to an increased strain of the upper extremity due to such non-physiologic motions as pulling the dog's strap or resisting the sudden pulling by the dog, and may result in an increased rate of overuse injuries. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We compared incidence of overuse injuries in a retrospective cohort of female soldiers who served either in the military working dogs' unit (MWD), or in the light infantry battalions (Infantry) from 2005 to 2015. We compared injury incidence of both groups during two periods: 5 mo of basic training (neither worked with dogs) and 19 or more months of combat service. Incidence was calculated as number of diagnoses per person-months (rate ratios, RR); each diagnosis counted once per study subject. We used RR confidence intervals to compare incidence of injuries between groups. RESULTS: There were 3,443 person-months in the MWD group and 194,590 person-months in the Infantry group. There was no difference in injury incidence between groups during the initial period of basic training. During the second period, MWDs had higher incidence of upper limb (RR = 1.45, p = 0.048) and hip (RR = 3.6, p < 0.0001) injuries. The association between service with dogs and upper limb injuries remained significant (RR = 1.09, p = 0.005) after adjusting for confounding variables in the multivariate regression analysis. Other independent predictors of the upper limb overuse injuries included each additional month of service (RR = 1.003, p = 0.008), Eastern European origin compared with Israeli-born recruits (RR = 0.97, p = 0.03), increased body weight in increments of 10 kg (RR = 1.008, p = 0.03), anemia (RR = 1.02, p = 0.02) and fatigue (RR = 1.05, p ≤ 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: We found that service in the MWD unit was associated with increased risk of upper limb injuries. Identification of the exact mechanism of injury and targeted interventions, as well as treatment of anemia and fatigue may lead to reduction of injuries in this unit.

School Security Measures and Longitudinal Trends in Adolescents' Experiences of Victimization.

Although school security measures have become a common fixture in public schools across the United States, research on the relationship between security and adolescent victimization is mixed, with very few studies examining trends in adolescent victimization across time. Using two waves of data from the Educational Longitudinal Study 2002 (N = 7659; 50.6% female; 56.7% White, 13.3% Black, 13.5% Hispanic, 11.3% Asian American, 5.4% other race), results from a series of multi-level models demonstrate that adolescents in schools with more security measures report higher odds of being threatened with harm, and no difference in odds of being in a physical altercation or having something stolen over time. Although prior research has established racial disparities in using school security measures, results demonstrate inconsistent patterns in the extent to which adolescents' race conditions the relationship between security and victimization. The findings are discussed in light of existing theoretical and empirical work, and implications for both research and practice are offered.

Why governments cannot afford Codentify to support their track and trace solutions.

BACKGROUND: In anticipation of the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products (ITP) entering into force in 2018, there is a growing demand for information on track and trace (T&T) solutions for tobacco products. This article contrasts the efficacy of Codentify from the perspective of authentication with that of material-based multilayered security technologies. METHOD: To calculate the probability of detecting one fraudulent pack under Codentify, we relied on a modified Bernoulli trial experiment with independent repeated sampling without replenishment. The probability is calculated using a multinomial distribution formula adjusted for the fact that both legitimate and non-legitimate packs may be sold in the market. RESULTS: In a relatively small market, a law enforcement authority would have to inspect over 27 000 (almost 31 000) packs per week to have a 90% (95%) certainty that it did not miss a fraudulent pack under the Codentify system. A material based T&T solution would require only 45 (59) pack inspections a week to have the same level of confidence. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates the inefficiency of Codentify compared to other solutions that incorporate material-based security features. Signatories to the ITP should reject Codentify due to both its low efficacy and its clear violation of the ITP's requirement that T&T shall not be performed by or delegated to the tobacco industry or its front groups.

Insecurity, polio vaccination rates, and polio incidence in northwest Pakistan.

Pakistan is one of three countries in which endemic transmission of poliovirus has never been stopped. Insecurity is often cited but poorly studied as a barrier to eradicating polio. We analyzed routinely collected health data from 32 districts of northwest Pakistan and constructed an index of insecurity based on journalistic reports of the monthly number of deaths and injuries resulting from conflict-related security incidents. The primary outcomes were the monthly incidence of paralytic polio cases within each district between 2007 and 2014 and the polio vaccination percentage from 666 district-level vaccination campaigns between 2007 and 2009, targeting ∼5.7 million children. Multilevel Poisson regression controlling for time and district fixed effects was used to model the association between insecurity, vaccinator access, vaccination rates, and polio incidence. The number of children inaccessible to vaccinators was 19.7% greater (95% CI: 19.2-20.2%), and vaccination rates were 5.3% lower (95% CI: 5.2-5.3%) in "high-insecurity" campaigns compared with "secure" campaigns. The unadjusted mean vaccination rate was 96.3% (SD = 8.6) in secure campaigns and 88.3% (SD = 19.2) in high-insecurity campaigns. Polio incidence was 73.0% greater (95% CI: 30-131%) during high-insecurity months (unadjusted mean = 0.13 cases per million people, SD = 0.71) compared with secure months (unadjusted mean = 1.23 cases per million people, SD = 4.28). Thus, insecurity was associated with reduced vaccinator access, reduced polio vaccination, and increased polio incidence in northwest Pakistan. These findings demonstrate that insecurity is an important obstacle to global polio eradication.