Collection Of Evidence Research Articles

A study on vulnerability of the Wickr login system in windows from a live forensics perspective

Secure instant messengers employ various techniques to ensure secure communication for users, such as eavesdropping denial, data leakage prevention, and privacy protection. While robust data protection techniques are generally considered beneficial, they may interfere with evidence collection during digital forensics investigations. As this is a known fact, secure instant messengers are often used by criminals to conduct clandestine communications. Therefore, identifying potential ways to collect data from secure instant messengers is crucial for digital forensic investigations. We analyzed Wickr, a secure instant messenger, to determine possible data collection methods. We considered various cases that might be encountered during digital forensics investigations and listed the main data that can be collected for each case, much of which was encrypted, or the data for encrypting the data. We analyzed the collected data and the log-in process of Wickr in detail, through which we succeeded in logging in without knowing the password of the account used on the target computer, because the password was verified on the client, not the server, after the first login. Based on our analysis results, we showed that it is possible to log in to Wickr without password even from devices that have never been logged in, when certain conditions are met. It was performed through reverse engineering. Our results indicate that there may be various data collection methods for secure instant messengers from a digital forensics investigation perspective, and that more study is needed.

Use of Artificial Intelligence to Improve the Calculation of Percent Adhesion for Transdermal and Topical Delivery Systems.

Adhesion is a critical quality attribute and performance characteristic for transdermal and topical delivery systems (TDS). Regulatory agencies recommend in vivo skin adhesion studies to support the approval of TDS in both new drug applications and abbreviated new drug applications. The current assessment approach in such studies is based on the visual observation of the percent adhesion, defined as the ratio of the area of TDS attached to the skin to the total area of the TDS. Visually estimated percent adhesion by trained clinicians or trial participants creates variability and bias. In addition, trial participants are typically confined to clinical centers during the entire product wear period, which may lead to challenges when translating adhesion performance to the real world setting. In this work we propose to use artificial intelligence and mobile technologies to aid and automate the collection of photographic evidence and estimation of percent adhesion. We trained state-of-art deep learning models with advanced techniques and in-house curated data. Results indicate good performance from the trained models and the potential use of such models in clinical practice is further explored.

A novel blockchain-based digital forensics framework for preserving evidence and enabling investigation in industrial Internet of Things

To address challenges in digital evidence collection and responsibility determination for industrial safety accidents involving industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) device nodes, this paper proposes a blockchain-based digital forensic scheme within the IIoT communication architecture. The scheme utilizes a decentralized blockchain storage mechanism to enable remote storage of digital forensic data. Additionally, it leverages smart contract mechanisms to facilitate efficient retrieval and tracing of related evidence chains. To enhance data security of IIoT device nodes, a token mechanism is implemented for access control. Moreover, to meet real-time evidence acquisition requirements in IIoT, an efficient batch consensus mechanism is proposed. Experimental simulations demonstrate the superiority of the novel consensus algorithm compared to the traditional Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPOS) consensus in the proposed scheme for the IIoT environment. It meets speed requirements for evidence collection, ensuring tamper-proof, non-repudiable, and permanent storage of digital forensic data. Consequently, the application of blockchain technology for judicial access and evidence storage has made significant contributions to digital forensics within the IIoT context.

The effect of checklists on evidence collection during initial investigations: a randomized controlled trial in virtual reality

The effect of checklists on evidence collection during initial investigations: a randomized controlled trial in virtual reality

Two Sides of the Same Coin: The Good and Bad of Alumni Affiliation during Auditor Evidence Collection

ABSTRACT Regulators and researchers express concern about auditors who leave their firms for employment at their clients, due to lingering relationships which might represent a threat to audit quality. These relationships could negatively impact audit quality through undue influences of the client personnel on auditor judgment. We examine how these relationships influence novice auditors during evidence collection. Understanding the effects of alumni affiliation on evidence collection is important because undiscovered issues at this phase may go unaddressed, potentially hurting audit quality. Contrary to most research findings, we find that alumni affiliation can benefit the audit by increasing auditors’ evidence collection. However, we also find, when auditors become depleted, the benefits of alumni affiliation actually reverse, as auditors overrely on the relationship, leading them to prematurely cease evidence collection. These findings have implications for both practitioners and researchers. Data Availability: Data are available from the authors upon request.

Clinical management of rape survivors

Sexual violence is a worldwide problem that requires a multipronged approach to provide survivors with the basic needs they require. Healthcare workers must know how to manage rape survivors to provide medical care, psychosocial first aid, and referral for further management and assessment if needed. The eight steps in managing rape are: Preparing to receive and offer medical care to rape survivor, Preparing the survivor for the clinical examination, History taking, Forensic evidence collection, Genital examination, Treatment of infection, Counselling and Follow-up.

The Originality of Digital Evidence and the Retention of Seized Digital Devices by Law Enforcement Officers in South Africa

Information and communication technology (ICT) devices, including mobile phones, laptops, computers and data storage mediums, such as memory sticks, are being seized daily by law enforcement agents. These devices are seized for different reasons in terms of the provisions of sections 21 to 23 of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977 and now, in terms of the provisions of sections 28 and 29 of the Cybercrimes Act 19 of 2020. The seizure and extended retention of such devices by law enforcement can have a devastating impact on businesses and individuals. In virtually all cases, the main objective of seizing an ICT device is to secure its data for purposes of investigation and the collection of evidence. This excludes, inter alia, cases where a device contains contraband and cannot be handed back to the suspect or in a case where circumstances justify forfeiture to the state. This article is limited to cases where the physical device has no evidential value. It is contended that the content of the evidential data and the requirement of originality on an ICT device is met by scientifically created forensic duplicates of the data, which negate law enforcement from unnecessary seizure and retaining the original device. The authors contend that ICT devices should only be seized in situations where a forensic duplicate of the evidential data cannot be created on the scene and, if seized, the evidential data should be forensically duplicated, and the original device returned within a pre-determined period. An extension of the pre-determined period should only be granted by a magistrate upon application. It is recommended that the subject be researched further, to arrive at a reasonable, pre-determined period, and that the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977 and Cybercrimes Act 19 of 2020 be amended accordingly.

A Review of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Usage as an Environmental Survey Tool within Tidal Stream Environments

Tidal energy is a rapidly developing area of the marine renewable energy sector that requires converters to be placed within areas of fast current speeds to be commercially viable. Tidal environments are also utilised by marine fauna (marine mammals, seabirds and fish) for foraging purposes, with usage patterns observed at fine spatiotemporal scales (seconds and metres). An overlap between tidal developments and fauna creates uncertainty regarding the environmental impact of converters. Due to the limited number of tidal energy converters in operation, there is inadequate knowledge of marine megafaunal usage of tidal stream environments, especially the collection of fine-scale empirical evidence required to inform on and predict potential environmental effects. This review details the suitability of using multirotor unmanned aerial vehicles within tidal stream environments as a tool for capturing fine-scale biophysical interactions. This includes presenting the advantages and disadvantages of use, highlighting complementary image processing and automation techniques, and showcasing the limited current examples of usage within tidal stream environments. These considerations help to demonstrate the appropriateness of unmanned aerial vehicles, alongside applicable image processing, for use as a survey tool to further quantify the potential environmental impacts of marine renewable energy developments.

Lives in Music

One of the more annoying aspects of the life of a popular music academic is that we study music that is primarily made and used by people who seem to have no interest at all in what we have to say. Popular musicians and fans are engaged with what we're talking about but not with how we talk about it. When the first volume of our history of live music came out, covering 1950–67 (Frith et al. 2013), I did some non-academic promotional work for it – presenting our book at a literary festival, library events and pensioners’ clubs (these were the people who had lived through what we were describing). Audiences were, like my non-academic friends, sufficiently interested in live music history to discuss our findings with enthusiasm but, at the same time, found the book unreadable. They couldn't be doing with academic research conventions, with the references constantly interrupting the narrative flow, with the painstaking collection and assessment of evidence, the stolid back and forth between the particular (the facts) and the general (the concepts).

Insights from Evidence-Based Medicine Method for Building Security Systems Against Terrorist Attacks in Hospitals.

Hospitals have become soft targets for terrorism, with increasing terrorist attacks observed in the last two decades. Not only the counter-terrorism and law enforcement agencies but the hospitals also need to be actively involved and undertake the responsibility of safeguarding hospital security by establishing an effective security system. Evidence-based medicine emphasizes the significance of scientific evidence, and in practice, research methods for the generation, collection, and utilization of evidence may offer new insights to overcome the issue of terrorism. The present study discusses the potential application of methods in evidence-based medicine for developing security systems against terrorist attacks in hospitals. First, hospitals can use simulated scenarios of terrorist attacks to generate evidence. For example, combining virtual technology with virtual reality technology and selecting appropriate algorithms or models to generate evidence. Second, they can apply tabletop exercises to propose measures, as a means of collecting evidence. The collection of data can be obtained through questionnaires or interviews. Some biological methods, such as collecting salivary markers of acute stress (α-amylase and secretory immunoglobulin A), can also be used to assess emotional states. Third, they can use the collected evidence to practically test and refine the implemented measures. To verify the effectiveness and feasibility of the formulated solutions in real-life scenarios, simulations, models, drills, and similar methods can be used. This approach may provide new perspectives for the development of hospital security systems.

Vectorized Evidential Learning for Weakly-supervised Temporal Action Localization.

With the explosive growth of videos, weakly-supervised temporal action localization (WS-TAL) task has become a promising research direction in pattern analysis and machine learning. WS-TAL aims to detect and localize action instances with only video-level labels during training. Modern approaches have achieved impressive progress via powerful deep neural networks. However, robust and reliable WS-TAL remains challenging and underexplored due to considerable uncertainty caused by weak supervision, noisy evaluation environment, and unknown categories in the open world. To this end, we propose a new paradigm, named vectorized evidential learning (VEL), to explore local-to-global evidence collection for facilitating model performance. Specifically, a series of learnable meta-action units (MAUs) are automatically constructed, which serve as fundamental elements constituting diverse action categories. Since the same meta-action unit can manifest as distinct action components within different action categories, we leverage MAUs and category representations to dynamically and adaptively learn action components and action-component relations. After performing uncertainty estimation at both category-level and unit-level, the local evidence from action components is accumulated and optimized under the Subject Logic theory. Extensive experiments on the regular, noisy, and open-set settings of three popular benchmarks show that VEL consistently obtains more robust and reliable action localization performance than state-of-the-arts.

PP44 Time Is Now: Advancing Value Assessment Of Cancer Therapies To Help Eliminate Cancer As The Cause Of Death

IntroductionEarlier cancer diagnosis and advances in science are resulting in improved patient and societal outcomes. However, payer frameworks and methods can find it difficult to keep pace with scientific progress, evolution of endpoints, and assess the wider value of these advances.MethodsA multidisciplinary, international group of experts working in the cancer field was brought together to reach consensus on key principles of defining and assessing of cancer treatment value. A Delphi-based approach including surveys, virtual panels, interviews and structured online discussions was used to reach consensus. This work was initiated and funded by AstraZeneca.ResultsTwenty-four experts from across the world (including patient advocates, oncologists, health economists, regulators, members of payer and health technology assessment (HTA) bodies) reached consensus on seven key principles across two themes, oncology relevant endpoints and dimensions of value. Three of the seven principles were found to be of particular relevance to HTA bodies and payers: assessing broad economic impact of new medicines (including socio-economic and caregiver impact), where early-stage cancer treatments can enhance patients’ ability to lead productive lives and contribute to economic activity; consider other value aspects of relevance to patients and society; use of Managed Entry Agreements (MEAs) supported by ongoing evidence collection to help address decision-maker evidence needs and address clinical uncertainty.ConclusionsIncentivizing access to early-stage treatments can promote cancer control, improved outcomes and generate long-term societal benefit. Furthermore, early diagnosis and treatment at earlier stages of cancer can be cost-effective, and sometimes cost-saving, as well as provide opportunities for cure. Expanding value components in therapy assessments to include, for example, insurance value, the value of choice, scientific spillovers, and wider societal perspectives, along with structured MEAs to manage clinical uncertainty and balance budgets will help realize the potential to eliminate cancer as the cause of death.

How do lead auditor instructions influence component auditors' evidence collection decisions? The joint influence of construal interpretations and responsibility

AbstractRegulators have raised concerns about the quality of component auditors' work. Of particular concern is that component auditors often do not adequately perform procedures and gather enough quality evidence. This failure is likely caused by component auditors' different interpretations of lead auditor instructions and by their lack of responsibility. Our interview findings suggest that component auditors tend to interpret lead auditor instructions concretely because they often receive detailed instructions from lead auditors. We propose that a responsibility prompt reminding component auditors to be aware of their obligations to the group audit engagement can improve their evidence collection. In two experiments, we find that our proposed responsibility prompt can effectively improve component auditors' evidence collection decisions and that this finding holds across different cultural settings. Our third experiment provides evidence that a responsibility prompt improves component auditors' evidence collection when provided to auditors who receive instructions that prime low‐level (but not high‐level) construals. Overall, our findings suggest that prompting component auditors to internalize the responsibility of a group audit engagement is a viable way to improve the quality of group audits.

The effect of gunshot detection technology on evidence collection and case clearance in Kansas City, Missouri

The effect of gunshot detection technology on evidence collection and case clearance in Kansas City, Missouri

The head of the prosecutor's office as a subject of proving

The article is devoted to the research of the participation in the proving of the head of the prosecutor's office, who is the Prosecutor General, the head of the regional prosecutor's office, the head of the district prosecutor's office and their first deputies and deputies acting within their competence. Despite the fact that the head of the prosecutor's office is almost never mentioned separately in doctrinal definitions and classifications of subjects of evidence, he is an independent participant in criminal proceedings and a subject of proving. The head of the prosecutor's office in the classification of subjects of proving refers to the group of subjects who are assigned the duty and burden of proof in the pre­trial investigation.
 The powers of the head of the prosecutor's office, which are related to the proving, include: 1) the determination of the appropriate subject of procedural guidance; 2) ensuring the effectiveness of the pre-trial investigation in the aspect of collecting of evidence; 3) initiation of criminal proceedings and notification of suspicion of criminal proceedings against certain categories of persons (which is a necessary condition for the admissibility of all evidence that will be collected and examined in criminal proceedings); 4) implementation of "delegated" powers under the martial law.
 The analysis of the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine and the positions of the Supreme Court regarding the problematic issues of the implementation of the powers of the head of the prosecutor's office leads to the conclusions that: the head of the prosecutor's office can be a member of the group of prosecutors; there is no imperative to include the head of the prosecutor's office in order to use the powers under Chapter 37 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine in the group of prosecutors, however, his inclusion in such a group also does not contradict the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. When the head of the prosecutor's office is included in the group of prosecutors, the question arises of the lack of impartiality in the powers specifically as the head of the prosecutor's office and the identification of a higher-level prosecutor for the purposes of Art. 308 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine.

The opportunities and challenges to co-designing policy options for tree health with policy makers, researchers and land managers

We describe experiences between 2018 and 2021 co-designing tree health policy options linked with the UK’s evolving land use policy post EU-Exit within the Future Farming and Countryside Programme. Policy makers, researchers and more than 250 land managers took part in a series of co-design engagements in a three-phase iterative co-design process that culminated in a new Tree Health Pilot. After defining the components of co-design, we describe how relationships between policy makers, researchers and land managers were built, the methods researchers introduced into the process to build capability and support participation, and the outcomes in terms of the key opportunities and challenges for policy co-design. We conclude that it is possible to move policy design beyond user focused research and into co-design. However, this relies on adequate time and resources required to build trust and fully engage all parties in a meaningful way, including the development of tools and techniques that include experimentation, different knowledge types, and moving from research and evidence collection into design. Having policy makers with participatory mindsets in the same space as land managers was important to facilitating active learning between all of those involved in the collective. Researchers played a critical role in the co-design, balancing the views and understandings of the policy community with those of the land manager community, facilitating learning, and selecting tools and techniques to make design options explicit. We conclude that policy co-design in the land-based and environmental sector is a real opportunity at an early stage of realisation, but the effectiveness and range of positive and negative outcomes and impacts will need to be evaluated in the future.

Reasons for Not Reporting Among Sexual Assault Survivors Who Seek Medical Forensic Exams: A Qualitative Analysis.

After a sexual assault, survivors have the option of seeking a medical forensic exam, which includes medical evaluation and treatment, as well as forensic evidence collection. Forensic evidence is collected in a sexual assault evidence kit (SAEK) and typically released to police to aid in the investigation and potential prosecution of the assault. However, 20% to 25% of survivors who have a SAEK collected do not report their assault to police at that time and choose instead to have their SAEK stored for possible future use. This study sought to understand the reasons for not reporting among this group of survivors. We examined medical records of 296 individuals aged 18 and older who had documented their reasons for not reporting to police in their medical record and used a non-theory-driven coding framework to conduct a reflexive thematic analysis based on that data. We identified four themes: Reporting Won't Help, Reporting Will Harm, Not Now, and Not What I'm Here For. These data illustrate that survivors are making an active choice which, for many, was based on concerns that reporting would not meaningfully help their situation or may even make their situations worse. For some survivors, the decision to have forensic evidence collected without a police report was based on their needs at that moment, whereas for other survivors it was based on their desire to move on from the assault more permanently. Practice and policy recommendations are discussed, including the importance of providing survivors information about what police reporting would look like in specific circumstances as well as ensuring that financial concerns are not a barrier to survivors receiving post-assault medical care without forensic evidence collection.

The effect of gunshot detection technology on evidence collection and case clearance in Kansas City, Missouri

Abstract Objectives This study tests whether (1) shots fired calls for service in the gunshot detection technology (GDT) target area are more likely to be classified as unfounded; (2) police responses to shootings in the GDT target area are more likely to recover ballistic evidence or firearms; and (3) shootings in the GDT target area are more likely to be cleared. Methods Entropy balancing created a weighted control group that equaled the treatment group across a range of covariates. GDT effect was tested through logistic regression models with entropy balancing weights set as probability weights. Results Shots fired occurring in the GDT target area were 15% more likely to be classified as unfounded compared to control cases. GDT did not significantly influence the likelihood of evidence collection or case clearance in shooting incidents. Conclusions GDT may not add investigative value to police responses to shooting incidents and may increase patrol workload.

Forensic Science Integration in Legal Education: A Paradigm Shift for Strengthening Legal Expertise in Pakistan

Abstract The objective and scientific interpretation of evidence provided by forensic science is a crucial component of the contemporary judicial system. In Pakistan, forensic science education is not a part of the required curriculum for obtaining a Bachelor of Law (LL.B.) degree. Lawyer’s knowledge of the scope and limits of forensic research is hindered by the absence of a thorough forensic science component within law school. This, in turn, may obstruct the proper use of forensics in court procedures, which can slow down the distribution of justice. Forensic science education offers numerous benefits, including a holistic understanding of law and forensic science, interdisciplinary skills development, enhanced collaboration between lawyers and experts, and the development of specialized lawyers for handling complex cases. Law students may benefit from a deeper grasp of the scientific processes involved in criminal investigation, evidence collecting, preservation, analysis, and presentation by taking forensic science courses. Future lawyers will benefit from this understanding while trying cases, challenging expert testimony, and arguing on behalf of their clients. This article addresses the advantages, problems, and possible tactics for integrating forensic science into the LL.B. curriculum in Pakistan.

Client Social Status and Cooperation with Audit Requests

ABSTRACT Auditors collect evidence from clients that vary in social status. I investigate how these status differences interact with the costliness of auditor requests, thereby influencing client cooperation during evidence collection. I develop theory predicting that higher-status clients’ cooperation decisions will be more sensitive to differences in the costliness of requests than lower-status clients’ decisions. I test this theory across two experiments using multiple methods, leveraging the complementary strengths of each method. Experiment 1 is a more abstract experiment in the tradition of experimental economics, and Experiment 2 is a more contextualized experiment using participants with prior experience interacting with auditors. Results from both experiments support the theorized interaction between the costliness of audit requests and client social status. This conclusion carries implications for practitioners in assessing strategic tactics that will efficiently and effectively increase client cooperation. Data Availability: Contact the author. JEL Classifications: C91; D70; M41; M42.