Airport Security Screening Research Articles

Train one and get a crew: a multilevel evaluation of team-centric leadership training for airport security screening crew leaders

PurposeThis study aims to introduce a team-centric leadership training program tailored for leaders of critical action teams. It emphasizes the critical role of effective teamwork in high-stakes environments.Design/methodology/approachThe authors developed a team-centric leadership training program for crew leaders of airport security teams. The training program comprised in-class teaching on the psychological foundations of teamwork and practical simulations. The training program’s effectiveness was assessed at the individual and team levels using Kirkpatrick’s evaluation model to obtain a complete evaluation of its effectiveness. First, a pre- and posttraining questionnaire recorded changes in self-efficacy, knowledge and skills about teamwork at the individual level from 62 leaders. Second, the authors assessed the transfer effects of the team-centric leadership training on self-reported team processes and team performance during a work shift of 37 crews.FindingsResults indicate an improvement in the application of teamwork skills but not in self-efficacy or knowledge among crew leaders who underwent the training. Additional analysis revealed that leaders with initially high self-efficacy in teamwork experienced a reduction posttraining, whereas those with initially low levels reported an increase. Teams led by trained leaders demonstrated a higher engagement in key team processes than those led by untrained leaders. No effect has been found on team performance.Originality/valueThis study offers a cost-effective alternative to conventional teamwork training methods, specifically designed for high-pressure security contexts. The authors advocate for the adoption of this training model by security professionals, aiming to elevate team processes and operational efficacy in critical action teams.

Night work, circadian rhythm, and cognitive performance: A field study with airport security screeners

The effects of circadian rhythms and night work on performance have been extensively studied using standardized, non-work-related tasks in laboratory settings. However, field research on work performance is scarce in this domain. This study addresses this gap by analyzing four million behavioral responses from 1437 security officers at an international airport. We compared threat detection performance during the routine security screening of passengers' baggage X-ray images across night shifts (shift starting between 0:00 and 2:59), early morning shifts (starting between 3:00 and 5:59), and standard morning shifts (starting between 6:00 and 7:59). Processing times followed the circadian rhythm of attention found in laboratory studies, indicating that the rhythm affects real-life work performance. False alarm rates (i.e. false target present responses) were slightly higher during night and early morning shifts than during standard morning shifts, with no significant difference in the security-relevant hit rates (i.e. true target present responses). Furthermore, we found no performance differences between night work and early morning shifts, suggesting that both can disrupt employees’ natural sleep patterns with implications on performance.

IMPACT OF THE BODY SCANNER APPLICATION ON PASSENGER SCREENING THROUGHPUT

The development of airport security screening systems requires the use of increasingly sophisticated and effective equipment to detect prohibited or hazardous items and substances. However, this can lead to a reduction in the throughput of the security checkpoint (SCP). This paper addresses the operationally important problem of the dilemma between screening effectiveness and screening checkpoint throughput, which is important to the real operational capabilities of an airport. In this paper, a comparison of traditional walk-through metal detectors (WTMD) gates and newer technology body scanners (BSs) was carried out in terms of SCP throughput as an element determining the operational capabilities of the airport. For this purpose, a simulation model was developed to study throughput based on a colored timed Petri net. The analysis showed that, depending on the characteristics of the available staff, the level of terrorist and epidemic threat, as well as the time of year, it is advantageous to use different strategies to vary the size of the stream of passengers directed for screening by the WTMD gate and BS.

Visual inspection problem-solving strategies at different experience levels

Airport security screening is a visual inspection task comprising search and decision. Problem solving is used to support decision making. However, it is not well understood. This study investigated how airport security screeners employ problem solving during x-ray screening, and how strategies change with experience. Thirty-nine professional security screeners were observed performing x-ray screening in the field at an Australian International Airport. Video and eye-tracking data were collected and analysed to explore activity phases and problem-solving strategies. Less-experienced screeners performed more problem solving and preferred problem-solving strategies that rely on visual examination without decision support or that defer decision making, compared to more-experienced screeners, who performed efficient and independent strategies. Findings also show that screeners need more time to develop problem-solving skills than visual scanning skills. Screeners would benefit from problem-solving support tools and intensified training and mentorship within the first six months of experience to advance problem-solving competencies.

SAFETY RISK MANAGEMENT AS RELATED TO AIRPORT PASSENGER EXPERIENCE AT MANILA INTERNATIONAL AND DOMESTIC AIRPORTS

This paper analyzed how employee attitudes towards safety risk management, perceived competence of ground staff in dealing with unruly passenger behavior, and perceived waiting time for airport security screening service can influence aviation safety performance and passenger experience at the airports operated by the Manila International Airport Authority. Descriptive survey, descriptive correlation, and thematic analysis methods were used to analyze the data. The results of the analysis showed that there is a weak, positive relationship between employees attitudes towards safety risk management and perceived competence of ground staff in dealing with unruly passenger behavior, however this correlation is not statistically significant. Additionally, there is a weak, positive relationship between perceived airport passenger experience and employee’s attitudes towards safety risk management, but this is not statistically significant. Furthermore, there is a moderate, negative correlation between perceived airport passenger experience and perceived waiting time for security screening service, which is statistically significant. The findings of the study suggest that employee attitudes towards safety risk management have no significant impact on the overall experience of airport passengers. In order to improve the airport passenger experience, the Manila International Airport Authority should implement a comprehensive safety training program for all airport staff, develop a safety risk management system and procedure manual, provide regular training and refresher courses for ground staff, and implement comprehensive customer feedback and satisfaction surveys. KEYWORDS: safety risk management, perceived competence of ground staff in dealing with unruly passenger behavior, perceived waiting time, airport passenger experience

A Safety Approach for Improving Security - Effective Coordination Strategies at the Airport Security Screening Checkpoint.

This study aimed to analyze effective teamwork at security checkpoints by investigating how security crews communicate in different (routine and threat) situations. Working at an airport security screening checkpoint is challenging. Although tasks and processes are highly regulated and standardized due to legal requirements, security screeners must be trained to deal with unforeseen threat situations involving high levels of uncertainty. Therefore, security crews need to engage in flexible and adaptive coordination according to the situation and circumstances. We conducted a field study with 20 airport security screening crews comprising 100 security screeners. Teamwork in terms of interaction between crew members was measured, differentiating between proactive "push" communication and information on request representing "pull" communication. Furthermore, non-task related communication was assessed. While crews showed non-task related communication more in routine situations, both task-related "push" and "pull" communication occurred more in threat situations. In terms of team performance, we could show significant positive effects of proactive "push" communication and non-task related interaction in threat situations. Our results underscore the specific setting of airport security screening and the challenges that arise for teamwork. This study investigates professional screeners and passengers in the field. In contrast to other high-risk areas, security crews are confronted with a third party that complicates coordination strategies considered effective in previous studies. Our findings recommend situation-specific communication strategies for practical training for airport security screening crews.

Microlocal properties of seven-dimensional lemon and apple Radon transforms with applications in Compton scattering tomography

We present a microlocal analysis of two novel Radon transforms of interest in Compton scattering tomography, which map compactly supported L 2 functions to their integrals over seven-dimensional sets of apple and lemon surfaces. Specifically, we show that the apple and lemon transforms are elliptic Fourier integral operators, which satisfy the Bolker condition. After an analysis of the full seven-dimensional case, we focus our attention on nD subsets of apple and lemon surfaces with fixed central axis, where n < 7. Such subsets of surface integrals have applications in airport baggage and security screening. When the data dimensionality is restricted, the apple transform is shown to violate the Bolker condition, and there are artifacts which occur on apple–cylinder intersections. The lemon transform is shown to satisfy the Bolker condition, when the support of the function is restricted to the strip .

Array Imaging in Airport Security Screening [Book/Software Reviews

This book introduces multistatic array imaging processing and imaging reconstruction based on reflection imaging in 3D. The book is more focused on personnel screening, especially for airport security checkpoints and for the detection of concealed weapons.

Feasibility of Reducing Operator-to-Passenger Contact for Passenger Screening at the Airport with Respect to the Power Consumption of the System

So far, airport security screening has only been analysed in terms of efficiency, level of service, and protection against any acts of unlawful interference. Screening procedures have not yet addressed the need to limit operator-to-passenger contact. However, the pandemic situation (COVID-19) has shown that it is a factor that can be a key protection for the health of passengers and operators. The purpose of this paper was to analyse the feasibility of reducing contact between operators and passengers in the airport security screening system by process management with respect to the power consumption of the system. Experimental research was conducted on a real system. A computer simulation was applied to estimate system performance and power consumption. The paper identifies the important findings that expand upon previous knowledge. The results showed that there are two key factors: the experience of operators and proper system structure. These factors can significantly reduce the number of operator-to-passenger contacts and, in parallel, provide lower energy consumption of the system. The results obtained in this article showed that proper management improves the process by up to 37%. This approach expands the World Health Organization’s policy of prevention against COVID-19 and helps to ensure sustainable process management.

Fast, Robust, and Low-Cost Microwave Imaging of Multiple Non-Metallic Pipes

The use of non-metallic pipes and composite components that are low-cost, durable, light-weight, and resilient to corrosion is growing rapidly in various industrial sectors such as oil and gas industries in the form of non-metallic composite pipes. While these components are still prone to damages, traditional non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques such as eddy current technique and magnetic flux leakage technique cannot be utilized for inspection of these components. Microwave imaging can fill this gap as a favorable technique to perform inspection of non-metallic pipes. Holographic microwave imaging techniques are fast and robust and have been successfully employed in applications such as airport security screening and underground imaging. Here, we extend the use of holographic microwave imaging to inspection of multiple concentric pipes. To increase the speed of data acquisition, we utilize antenna arrays along the azimuthal direction in a cylindrical setup. A parametric study and demonstration of the performance of the proposed imaging system will be provided.

Detection of total hip arthroplasty at airport securities

&lt;p class="abstract"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background:&lt;/strong&gt; In era of increased air travel, airport security screening measures has been increased. A lot of anxiety to the patient, that may trigger an alarm at airport securities post-surgery. The purpose of this study is to find out experiences of patients after total hip arthroplasty (THA) passing through airport security. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="abstract"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Methods:&lt;/strong&gt; A retrospective case series of 269 THA patients in a single high-volume center from January 2016 to June 2018, who had passed through airport security and met inclusion criteria. Patient were contacted during their regular follow ups or via phone. The patients were asked for alarm trigger, perceived inconvenience, whether security officials asked to show documentation regarding prosthesis, and any extra screening procedures check measures.&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="abstract"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Results:&lt;/strong&gt; Out of 269 patients, 52 patients met inclusion criteria travelling by airplane. 27 patients reported alarm trigger. 7 patients had to undergo additional security check measures. 43% of the patients believed that having their THA increased the inconvenience while traveling. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="abstract"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusions:&lt;/strong&gt; This study provides information to surgeons regarding airport travel post THA. Patients can be counselled regarding the inconvenience and to be prepared for delays in airport and to be prepared to present documentation of their prosthesis.&lt;/p&gt;

A Study on the Effects of Waiting Time for Airport Security Screening Service on Passengers’ Emotional Responses and Airport Image

The ultimate purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of perceived waiting time for airport security screening service had on airport image through the medium of passengers’ psychological and emotional responses. For this purpose, a survey was conducted in passengers using Incheon International Airport and Gimpo International Airport. A total of 294 questionnaires were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Perceived waiting time was found to have statistically significant effects on wasted time, boredom, and neglect among the sub-factors for airline passengers’ psychological responses. Wasted time had a positive effect on negative emotional response and had a negative influence on acceptability. In addition, acceptability had a positive effect on airport image. The results of this study can be utilized not only as basic data for future airport security screening service research, but also have a positive impact on airport sustainability by increasing airport security and safety.

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.

Parallel high-frequency magnetic sensing with an array of flux transformers and multi-channel optically pumped magnetometer for hand MRI application

We investigate an approach for parallel high-frequency magnetic sensing based on a multi-channel radio frequency (RF) optically pumped magnetometer (OPM) coupled to multiple flux transformers (FTs) with a focus on hand magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) application at ultra-low field (ULF). Multiple RF OPM sensing channels are realized by using a single large-area alkali-metal vapor cell and two laser beams for pumping and probing, shared for all the channels. This design leads to significant cost reduction when multi-channel sensing is desirable, as in the case of ULF MRI. The FT, composed of two connected coils, serves as a transmitter of a target magnetic field to the OPM, while decoupling the OPM from untargeted magnetic fields in the sensing area that can limit the OPM performance. For hand MRI application, theoretical and numerical analysis is performed to determine an optimal geometry for the FT array that could improve signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and sufficiently reduce crosstalk between FTs. We estimate that the optimized multi-channel FT-OPM sensor can achieve a magnetic field sensitivity of the order of 1fT/Hz1/2 above 100 kHz, which would be sufficient for 1 mm resolution MRI. In general, the multi-channel capability enables simultaneous magnetic measurements, thus reducing the sensing time and improving the SNR, and we anticipate many applications of the multi-channel FT-OPM sensor beyond the targeted here hand MRI: anatomical parallel ULF MRI of the human brain and other parts of the body, airport security screening, magnetic material imaging, and many others.

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Dual-energy X-ray Imaging in Combination with Automated Threshold Gabor Filtering for Baggage Screening Application

With ever-increasing demands on the security screening procedures, improved detection of items of concern inside the bags and luggage continues to attract considerable interest. In this study dual-energy, X-ray images have been used in combination with Gabor filter noise reduction with a view to improvements in object visualization and automated detection. X-ray images were acquired from representative test items using 20 kV and 140 kV X-rays and Gabor filtering, with an automatic threshold level setting, was applied for image de-noising. The filter was applied in six different amplitudes and directions to obtain a fused image with the background fog removed which yielded higher image quality. Evaluation of the reconstructed images was performed by experienced operators who were able to confirm the achievement of the significant improvement in visualization-confidence of morphology and material differences between the objects. Also, quantitative analysis was applied to the processed fused image and statistically significant differences between low contrast regions of the image associated with powders and fluids with similar densities were detected. The results show that the method can be extended to achieve automated object material and shape recognition as a powerful tool in airport security screening.

Zombies as an Allegory for Terrorism: Understanding the Social Impact of Post-9/11 Security Theatre and the Existential Threat of Terrorism through the Work of Mira Grant

This paper seeks to understand the impact upon society of “security theatre”: being the proliferation of security legislation and processes, particularly in the context of airport security screening. Security theatre is a response to the ongoing threat of terrorist attack without warning since September 11, 2001. While as lawyers we have a clear understanding of the laws have been put in place in response to these issues, we often have very little real grasp of how these laws impact society at large. Responses to social change are often first documented in popular literature. This paper seeks to explore the social impact of security theatre through examining bestselling popular literature that was intended as an allegory of these issues. Thus, the approach taken is to use such literature as a sociological text to provide insight into social responses. To that end Mira Grant’s apocalyptic Newsflesh trilogy and interviews with Grant about these topics within the books will be analysed and explored with a view to understanding the social impact of security theatre. My hope that we gain greater insight into the social perception of these issues, and the ability to view them from a different perspective.

A joint reconstruction and lambda tomography regularization technique for energy-resolved x-ray imaging

We present new joint reconstruction and regularization techniques inspired by ideas in microlocal analysis and lambda tomography, for the simultaneous reconstruction of the attenuation coefficient and electron density from x-ray transmission (i.e., x-ray CT) and backscattered data (assumed to be primarily Compton scattered). To demonstrate our theory and reconstruction methods, we consider the ‘parallel line segment’ acquisition geometry of Webber J and Miller E (2020 Inverse Problems 36 025007), which is motivated by system architectures currently under development for airport security screening. We first present a novel microlocal analysis of the parallel line geometry which explains the nature of image artefacts when the attenuation coefficient and electron density are reconstructed separately. We next introduce a new joint reconstruction scheme for low effective Z (atomic number) imaging (Z < 20) characterized by a regularization strategy whose structure is derived from lambda tomography principles and motivated directly by the microlocal analytic results. Finally we show the effectiveness of our method in combating noise and image artefacts on simulated phantoms.

An Empirical Comparative Analysis of Airport Security Screeners&amp;apos; Perception of Employment Systems and Cooperation within an Airport Authority for Effective Disaster Response

This study analyzed and compared airport security screeners' perception of the employment system and cooperation within a company working at both Incheon and Gimpo international airports. Based on empirical research, suggestions for changes to policy were made to improve the disaster response of an airport authority. It was proven that, if the current transition policy of aviation security screeners' employment systems were implemented as planned, the efficiency of security screening would improve and the number of aviation security breaches would significantly decrease. Additionally, it was found that surveyed employees from both airports perceived that the employment transition to establish a government-owned company must be expedited to improve aviation security for effective disaster response of an airport authority.

Mitigating the consequences of invasive security practices: a quasi-experiment in an international airport

Invasive security practices create resentment, especially when targeting minority groups. Many studies of homeland security as well as of general policing practices, emphasized the harm such security checks produce; however, they could not tell us what effect avoiding these practices had on perceptions of trust. Our study follows a security screening reform in Israel’s Ben-Gurion international airport, a reform that was done to eliminate a specific practice which we found, in a previous study, to cause significant emotional harm. Employing a quasi-experimental design, we tested the effect that avoiding that specific harmful component had on perception of trust among Israeli citizens of Arab ethnicity. We found that eliminating that harmful component of the security screening was highly effective in improving the feelings of Israeli citizens of Arab ethnicity. We found that limited trust and perceptions of unfair treatment are not inevitable feelings among minorities, even in stressful situations such as airport security screening, as they predominantly depend not on background characteristics, but rather on the characteristics of the direct treatment they receive.