Airport Screening Research Articles

Technology adoption for airport security: Modeling public disclosure and secrecy in an attacker-defender game

Airport security agencies throughout the world play a vital role in safeguarding the aviation industry against terrorist attacks. As a result of the evolving and adaptive behaviors of terrorists, it is critical that security agencies continue to adopt new airport screening technologies in order to expose and deter threats. To this end, the question arises as to whether or not to publicly disclose new screening technology adoption. Although there is literature on strategic information disclosure in defensive resource allocation, to the best of our knowledge, no previous literature has focused on modeling disclosure and secrecy for defensive technology adoption. To address this gap, we develop an attacker-defender game model where the defender is considering adopting a new screening technology, and an adversary is considering attacking an aviation target. Our model addresses two distinct information disclosure strategies on behalf of the defender: (i) public disclosure, which is modeled in a sequential subgame, and (ii) secrecy, which is modeled in a simultaneous subgame. We find that in the proposed complete information game, disclosure of the defender’s technology adoption strategy is either preferred to, or equivalent to, maintaining secrecy. That is to say that the defender never prefers secrecy over disclosure. Overall, this paper helps to fill a significant gap in the literature concerning technology adoption and information disclosure strategies for airport security screening, and also has implications that can inform decision makers in the broader homeland security domain. Historical data is used to drive numerical sensitivity analyses of the equilibrium strategies.

Detection and genetic characterization of community-based SARS-CoV-2 infections – New York City, March 2020

To limit SARS-CoV-2 introduction, the United States restricted travel from China on February 2 and from Europe on March 13, 2020 By March 15, community transmission was widespread in New York City (NYC) The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene conducted sentinel surveillance of influenza-like symptoms (ILS) and genetic sequencing to characterize community transmission and determine the geographic origin of SARS-CoV-2 infections Among 544 specimens tested from persons with ILS and negative influenza test results, 36 (6 6%) were positive Genetically sequenced positive specimens most closely resembled sequences circulating in Europe Partnering with health care facilities and establishing systems for sentinel surveillance with capacity for genetic sequencing before an outbreak can inform timely public health response strategies

A rapid review of the effectiveness of screening practices at airports, land borders and ports to reduce the transmission of respiratory infectious diseases such as COVID-19

Travel screening for infectious diseases is often implemented to delay or prevent the entry of infected persons to a country/area. To evaluate the effectiveness of different point-of-entry screening strategies in achieving a reduction in imported COVID-19 transmission. A rapid evidence review was conducted, systematically searching PubMed and Google Scholar and grey literature on 27 March 2020. We screened 1194 records. Nine potential full-text articles were assessed for eligibility and included. Three articles investigated the effectiveness of entry-based thermal and body temperature scanning. Entry-based infrared thermal or body temperature scanning for COVID-19 was unlikely to be effective. Two systematic reviews found no additional benefit of travel restrictions/screening. In a COVID-19 modelling study, airport screening was not effective, with exit and entry thermal scanning identifying half and missing almost half of infected travellers. Two other modelling studies found that entry-based travel screening would achieve only modest delays in community transmission, while international travel quarantine could reduce case importations by 80%. There is insufficient evidence to support entry and exit screening at points of entry, as these strategies detect just over half of the infected cases, missing almost half at entry points. The benefits of airport screening therefore need to be context specific and weighed against the resources and cost of implementation, the contribution of imported cases to total cases, and the benefits of identifying 50% of cases in the South African context with the country's high HIV and tuberculosis prevalence and limited resources to deal with a pandemic of this nature.

Selectively permeable national borders: An ethnographic study of a pre-entry TB screening centre

Abstract Background The securitisation of borders against the threat of invading microbes, carried by immigrant bodies, is not a new phenomenon. Tuberculosis (TB), transmitted through coughing, has been a core member of the infectious diseases deemed important to control for more than a century. Following evidence suggesting airport screening for TB using chest x-rays was ad hoc, ineffective and costly, the UK - following in the footsteps of other high-income, low TB-burden countries - moved to pre-entry screening of migrants for TB. Thus the 'biosecuritisation' of immigrant bodies was shifted off-shore. Since 2014, pre-entry screening for TB has been a mandatory part of the visa application system for those moving to the UK for a period of 6 months or longer from high-incidence countries. This ethnographic study explores how pre-entry screening is experienced by migrants. Methods Data was drawn from a project exploring migrants' experiences of accessing healthcare. This involved a focused ethnography, comprising 180 hours of field work over four weeks including interviews with clients and staff, in a pre-entry TB screening centre in India in 2017. During this time over 1000 individuals were screened for active pulmonary TB as part of their visa application. In addition, 14 in-depth interviews were conducted with migrants diagnosed with TB in the UK. Foucault's concept 'governmentality' and sociological theories of bordering were used alongside thematic analysis to analyse the data. Results This study reveals the previously undocumented harms experienced by individuals who are required to undergo pre-entry screening for TB. Through the 'biosecuritisation' of some, but not all, off-shore bodies; some, but not all, off-shore TB; some, but not all, infectious diseases; pre-entry screening becomes a border force, reinforcing global inequities and racialised hierarchies. In this context, I argue pre-entry screening makes UK citizens live while letting 'others' die. Key messages Pre-entry screening marks migrants as ‘other’ in a global, racialised, hierarchy of TB risk that ignores intra-country heterogeneity, obfuscating solutions that might reduce inter-country inequities. The global health security agenda must consider the experiences of those caught up in its policies and practices in order to ensure disease control does not do more harm than good.

Leveraging Africa's preparedness towards the next phase of the COVID-19 pandemic

Leveraging Africa's preparedness towards the next phase of the COVID-19 pandemic

Transfer Learning with Deep Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) for Pneumonia Detection Using Chest X-ray

Pneumonia is a life-threatening disease, which occurs in the lungs caused by either bacterial or viral infection. It can be life-endangering if not acted upon at the right time and thus the early diagnosis of pneumonia is vital. The paper aims to automatically detect bacterial and viral pneumonia using digital x-ray images. It provides a detailed report on advances in accurate detection of pneumonia and then presents the methodology adopted by the authors. Four different pre-trained deep Convolutional Neural Network (CNN): AlexNet, ResNet18, DenseNet201, and SqueezeNet were used for transfer learning. A total of 5247 chest X-ray images consisting of bacterial, viral, and normal chest x-rays images were preprocessed and trained for the transfer learning-based classification task. In this study, the authors have reported three schemes of classifications: normal vs. pneumonia, bacterial vs. viral pneumonia, and normal, bacterial, and viral pneumonia. The classification accuracy of normal and pneumonia images, bacterial and viral pneumonia images, and normal, bacterial, and viral pneumonia were 98%, 95%, and 93.3%, respectively. This is the highest accuracy, in any scheme, of the accuracies reported in the literature. Therefore, the proposed study can be useful in more quickly diagnosing pneumonia by the radiologist and can help in the fast airport screening of pneumonia patients.

Demand prediction and dynamic workforce allocation to improve airport screening operations

Workforce allocation and configuration decisions at airport security checkpoints (e.g., number of lanes open) are usually based on passenger volume forecasts. The accuracy of such forecasts is critical for the smooth functioning of security checkpoints where unexpected surges in passenger volumes are handled proactively. In this article, we present a forecasting model that combines flight schedules and other business fundamentals with historically observed throughput patterns to predict passenger volumes in a multi-terminal multi-security screening checkpoint airport. We then present an optimization model and a solution strategy for dynamically selecting a configuration of open screening lanes to minimize passenger queues and wait times that at the same time determine workforce allocations. We present a real-world case study in a US airport to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed models.

Airport screening is largely futile, research shows

Thermometer guns and health questionnaires may look reassuring, but very rarely catch infected travelers

Effectiveness of airport screening at detecting travellers infected with novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

We evaluated effectiveness of thermal passenger screening for 2019-nCoV infection at airport exit and entry to inform public health decision-making. In our baseline scenario, we estimated that 46% (95% confidence interval: 36 to 58) of infected travellers would not be detected, depending on incubation period, sensitivity of exit and entry screening, and proportion of asymptomatic cases. Airport screening is unlikely to detect a sufficient proportion of 2019-nCoV infected travellers to avoid entry of infected travellers.

Passengers' destinations from China: low risk of Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) transmission into Africa and South America.

Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV [SARS-COV-2]) was detected in humans during the last week of December 2019 at Wuhan city in China, and caused 24 554 cases in 27 countries and territories as of 5 February 2020. The objective of this study was to estimate the risk of transmission of 2019-nCoV through human passenger air flight from four major cities of China (Wuhan, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou) to the passengers' destination countries. We extracted the weekly simulated passengers' end destination data for the period of 1-31 January 2020 from FLIRT, an online air travel dataset that uses information from 800 airlines to show the direct flight and passengers' end destination. We estimated a risk index of 2019-nCoV transmission based on the number of travellers to destination countries, weighted by the number of confirmed cases of the departed city reported by the World Health Organization (WHO). We ranked each country based on the risk index in four quantiles (4th quantile being the highest risk and 1st quantile being the lowest risk). During the period, 388 287 passengers were destined for 1297 airports in 168 countries or territories across the world. The risk index of 2019-nCoV among the countries had a very high correlation with the WHO-reported confirmed cases (0.97). According to our risk score classification, of the countries that reported at least one Coronavirus-infected pneumonia (COVID-19) case as of 5 February 2020, 24 countries were in the 4th quantile of the risk index, two in the 3rd quantile, one in the 2nd quantile and none in the 1st quantile. Outside China, countries with a higher risk of 2019-nCoV transmission are Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Canada and the USA, all of which reported at least one case. In pan-Europe, UK, France, Russia, Germany and Italy; in North America, USA and Canada; in Oceania, Australia had high risk, all of them reported at least one case. In Africa and South America, the risk of transmission is very low with Ethiopia, South Africa, Egypt, Mauritius and Brazil showing a similar risk of transmission compared to the risk of any of the countries where at least one case is detected. The risk of transmission on 31 January 2020 was very high in neighbouring Asian countries, followed by Europe (UK, France, Russia and Germany), Oceania (Australia) and North America (USA and Canada). Increased public health response including early case recognition, isolation of identified case, contract tracing and targeted airport screening, public awareness and vigilance of health workers will help mitigate the force of further spread to naïve countries.

Automatic Target Recognition for CT-based Airport Screening System

To construct an automatic target recognition CT-based screening system for airport, this paper introduces a method by combining two hot technology, CT Image Processing and Machine Learning together. With the grey-scale features and the Histogram of Oriented Gradient (HOG) features extracted from the CT images, we can train different classifier (SVM, KNN) to recognize the targets (saline, rubber, clay) we want. By comparing the recall rate and precision rate of each classifier, we may find the best classifier for this project.

Airport Entry and Exit Screening during the Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak in Sierra Leone, 2014 to 2016.

We present entry and exit screening outcomes on all persons passing through Freetown International Airport (FNA) in Sierra Leone during the period 1st September 2014 to 4th February 2016. A total of 166,242 persons underwent screening for Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) at FNA. Five persons were denied air travel from Sierra Leone after secondary screening. Laboratory testing revealed none were positive for EVD. No cases were identified through entry screening route. The public health value of airport screening for EVD is discussed.

Predicting Airport Screening Officers' Visual Search Competency With a Rapid Assessment.

Objective The study's objective was to assess a new personnel selection and assessment tool for aviation security screeners. A mobile app was modified to create a tool, and the question was whether it could predict professional screeners' on-job performance. Background A variety of professions (airport security, radiology, the military, etc.) rely on visual search performance-being able to detect targets. Given the importance of such professions, it is necessary to maximize performance, and one means to do so is to select individuals who excel at visual search. A critical question is whether it is possible to predict search competency within a professional search environment. Method Professional searchers from the USA Transportation Security Administration (TSA) completed a rapid assessment on a tablet-based X-ray simulator (XRAY Screener, derived from the mobile technology app Airport Scanner; Kedlin Company). The assessment contained 72 trials that were simulated X-ray images of bags. Participants searched for prohibited items and tapped on them with their finger. Results Performance on the assessment significantly related to on-job performance measures for the TSA officers such that those who were better XRAY Screener performers were both more accurate and faster at the actual airport checkpoint. Conclusion XRAY Screener successfully predicted on-job performance for professional aviation security officers. While questions remain about the underlying cognitive mechanisms, this quick assessment was found to significantly predict on-job success for a task that relies on visual search performance. Application It may be possible to quickly assess an individual's visual search competency, which could help organizations select new hires and assess their current workforce.

Predicting airport screening officers' visual search competency with a rapid assessment

Objective The study's objective was to assess a new personnel selection and assessment tool for aviation security screeners. A mobile app was modified to create a tool, and the question was whether it could predict professional screeners' on-job performance. Background A variety of professions (airport security, radiology, the military, etc.) rely on visual search performance-being able to detect targets. Given the importance of such professions, it is necessary to maximize performance, and one means to do so is to select individuals who excel at visual search. A critical question is whether it is possible to predict search competency within a professional search environment. Method Professional searchers from the USA Transportation Security Administration (TSA) completed a rapid assessment on a tablet-based X-ray simulator (XRAY Screener, derived from the mobile technology app Airport Scanner; Kedlin Company). The assessment contained 72 trials that were simulated X-ray images of bags. Participants searched for prohibited items and tapped on them with their finger. Results Performance on the assessment significantly related to on-job performance measures for the TSA officers such that those who were better XRAY Screener performers were both more accurate and faster at the actual airport checkpoint. Conclusion XRAY Screener successfully predicted on-job performance for professional aviation security officers. While questions remain about the underlying cognitive mechanisms, this quick assessment was found to significantly predict on-job success for a task that relies on visual search performance. Application It may be possible to quickly assess an individual's visual search competency, which could help organizations select new hires and assess their current workforce.

Ebola nurse 'relieved' after NMC clears her of misconduct in airport screening process.

Scottish nurse Pauline Cafferkey (pictured right), who recovered from the Ebola virus, spoke of her relief after being cleared of misconduct by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

Risk of global spread of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) via the air transport network.

Background: Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) emerged from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) in 2012 and has since spread to 26 countries. All cases reported so far have either been in the Middle East or linked to the region through passenger air travel, with the largest outbreak outside KSA occurring in South Korea. Further international spread is likely due to the high travel volumes of global travel, as well as the occurrence of large annual mass gathering such as the Haj and Umrah pilgrimages that take place in the region. Methods: In this study, a transport network modelling framework was used to quantify the risk of MERS-CoV spreading internationally via air travellers. All regions connected to MERS-CoV affected countries via air travel are considered, and the countries at highest risk of travel-related importations of MERS-CoV were identified, ranked and compared with actual spread of MERS cases. Results: The model identifies all countries that have previously reported a travel acquired case to be in the top 50 at-risk countries. India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are the highest risk countries which have yet to report a case, and should be prepared for the possibility of (pilgrims and general) travellers returning infected with MERS-CoV. In addition, the UK, Egypt, Turkey and the USA are at risk of more cases. Conclusions: We have demonstrated a risk-analysis approach, using travel patterns, to prioritize countries at highest risk for MERS-CoV importations. In order to prevent global outbreaks such as the one seen in South Korea, it is critical for high-risk countries to be prepared and have appropriate screening and triage protocols in place to identify travel-related cases of MERS-CoV. The results from the model can be used by countries to prioritize their airport and hospital screening and triage protocols.

Airport security and screening satisfaction: A case study of U.S.

The study analyzes the perception of airport safety by travelers, and how it is related to satisfaction with passenger screening experiences and the perception of public transit safety. It uses the Omnibus Household Survey data collected by the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics and estimates a structural equations model. It finds a positive relationship between Screening Satisfaction and Screening Safety and a positive relationship between the perception of Public Transit Safety and Screening Safety. A lack of experience with using public transit is also found to contribute to travelers perceiving lower levels of Screening Safety at airports, and females compared to males perceive a lower level of Screening Safety. Finally, the study finds causality from a traveler’s satisfaction with the screening process to safety perception.

Outcomes analysis of new entrant screening for active tuberculosis in Heathrow and Gatwick airports, United Kingdom 2009/2010.

BackgroundIn 2012, the United Kingdom (UK) Government announced that the new entrant screening for active tuberculosis (TB) in Heathrow and Gatwick airports would end. Our study objective was to estimate screening yield and diagnostic accuracy, and identify those at risk of active TB after entry.MethodsWe designed a retrospective cohort study and linked new entrants screened from June 2009 to September 2010 through probabilistic matching with UK Enhanced TB Surveillance (ETS) data (June 2009 to December 2010). Yield was the proportion of cases reported to ETS within three months of airport screening in the screened population. To estimate screening diagnostic accuracy we assessed sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values. Through Poisson regression we identified groups at increased risk of TB diagnosis after entry.ResultsWe identified 200,199 screened entrants, of these 59 had suspected TB at screening and were reported within 3 months to ETS (yield = 0.03 %). Sensitivity was 26 %; specificity was 99.7 %; positive predictive value was 13.2 %; negative predictive value was 99.9 %. Overall, 350 entrants were reported in ETS. Persons from countries with annual TB incidence higher than 150 cases per 100,000 population and refugees and asylum seekers were at increased risk of TB diagnosis after entry (population attributable risk 77 and 3 % respectively).ConclusionAirport screening has very low screening yields, sensitivity and positive predictive value. New entrants coming from countries with annual TB incidence higher than 150 per 100,000 population, refugees and asylum seekers should be prioritised at pre- or post-entry screening.

The Herschel Heritage to Medical Thermography

The discovery of infrared radiation by William Herschel in 1800 led to John Herschel’s study of solar radiation that he imaged by evaporography. This he termed a thermogram. The measurement of temperature in medicine advanced with Dr Carl Wunderlich, who showed the significance of the use of temperature measurements for diagnosis of fever and for monitoring the course of temperature in relation to disease. It was William and John Herschel’s discovery of infrared radiation that has ultimately opened up many applications for thermal imaging. Radiometric determination of human body (skin) temperature is now achievable. Remote sensing of infrared radiation first developed in the 1940s and has continued to develop steadily since 1960. Modern high speed and high resolution camera systems have now reached a dramatic level of performance at more modest costs, which medicine can now employ for non-invasive and quantifiable imaging. This has applications in many areas of medicine both for diagnostics and monitoring treatment. In recent years the acute threat of pandemic infection has increased, heightened by today’s ever expanding world travel. Special interest has been shown in the potential of thermal imaging for airport and travel screening. This is in effect where Dr Wunderlich’s studies began, and it has yet to be proven that the technique can be responsibly employed for efficient screening of large numbers of the travelling public.

A Human Being as a Part of the Security Control System at the Airport

The passenger and baggage security in airport screening system is one of the most important factors that determine air transport safety and security. It prevents objects and materials that could be used to commit an act of unlawful interference from being placed on board an aircraft. The security screening system consists of x-ray screening devices, walk-through metal detectors and specialised software. However, a key element of the security screening system is the human – the security screener (SSc). The equipment and software helps the screener to find prohibited items, but also detects and records his/her errors. The whole security control point (SCP) can be regarded as a complex socio-technical system. It's effectiveness is dependent, inter alia, on the type of x-ray devices used, a variant of SCP organisation or the technical condition of the equipment, but mainly on the quality of the security screeners’ work. Special attention is paid to the types of errors and their frequency. We analyze the quantitative relationships between types of errors and also between the frequency of errors and the frequency of virtual threat images projection (TIP). This last technology is a kind of intelligent support system and at the same time verifies the screener's work. The study was based on measurements under real conditions at the Katowice-Pyrzowice International Airport. In the framework of this research two basic types of errors made by SSc were identified. The results show that the number of errors is dependent from the frequency of the stimulus, represented by TIP images. As a result, it was possible to determine the recommended frequency of threat images projections. The study is supplemented by a comparison of the screeners’ effectiveness in laboratory conditions against real conditions, while working at the security control point.