Utilising Reduced File Representations to Facilitate Fast Contraband Detection

Digital forensics practitioners can be tasked with analysing digital data, in all its forms, for legal proceedings. In law enforcement, this largely involves searching for contraband media, such as illegal images and videos, on a wide array of electronic devices. Unfortunately, law enforcement agencies are often under-resourced and under-staffed, while the volume of digital evidence, and number of investigations, continues to rise each year, contributing to large investigative backlogs.A primary bottleneck in forensic processing can be the speed at which data is acquired from a disk or network, which can be mitigated with data reduction techniques. The data reduction approach in this thesis uses reduced representations for individual images which can be used in lieu of cryptographic hashes for the automatic detection of illegal media. These approaches can facilitate reduced forensic processing times, faster investigation turnaround, and a reduction in the investigative backlog.Reduced file representations are achieved in two ways. The first approach is to generate signatures from partial files, where highly discriminative features are analysed, while reading as little of the file as possible. Such signatures can be generated using either header features of a particular file format, or by reading logical data blocks. This works best when reading from the end of the file. These sub-file signatures are particularly effective on solid state drives and networked drives, reducing processing times by up to 70× compared to full file cryptographic hashing. Overall the thesis shows that these signatures are highly discriminative, or unique, at the million image scale, and are thus suitable for the forensic context. This approach is effectively a starting point for developing forensics techniques which leverage the performance characteristics of non-mechanical media, allowing for evidence on flash based devices to be processed more efficiently.The second approach makes use of thumbnails, particularly those stored in the Windows thumbnail cache database. A method was developed which allows for image previews for an entire computer to be parsed in less than 20 seconds using cryptographic hashes, effecting rapid triage. The use of perceptual hashing allows for variations between operating systems to be accounted for, while also allowing for small image modifications to be captured in an analysis. This approach is not computationally expensive but has the potential to flag illegal media in seconds, rather than an hour in traditional triage, making a good starting point for investigations of illegal media

Enforcement Guide: Near Shore Artisanal Fisheries

We need healthy oceans to support our way of life. Unfortunately, fish stocks are under growing pressure and the need to find innovative and pragmatic resource management strategies is more important than ever. Disregard for fisheries and environmental laws is common and if we are to succeed in reversing the declining trend, we must draft relevant regulations, design and fund comprehensive enforcement programs and cultivate a culture of compliance. Historically, marine law enforcement has been the competency of Naval and Coast Guard authorities; however, many fishery and park agencies, who lack training, equipment, and at times controlling legal authority, are tasked with fisheries management and enforcement. Complicating matters, most agencies are understaffed; lack budgetary resources, and possess limited authority (i.e. power of arrest and the ability to use force). WildAid in cooperation with The Nature Conservancy developed this guide to assist managers in designing a cost effective enforcement strategy for near shore artisanal fisheries. This document is not a recompilation of literature, but a practical guide based on our experience in the Eastern and Western Pacific. Generally, an enforcement system is designed to monitor all activities within a given area ranging from tourism, investigation, and transportation to fisheries; however, this guide will focus primarily on near shore artisanal fisheries. The objectives of this guide are three-fold:1. Examine all factors considered for the design and operation of a marine law enforcement system; 2. Illustrate key components of an enforcement system and evaluate surveillance technology and patrol equipment options; 3. Guide managers in the design and implementation of an enforcement system.In summary, it aims to equip managers with the tools needed to strengthen fisheries management and design enforcement systems that are practical, affordable and feasible to implement in a timely manner. Fisheries enforcement requires a holistic approach that accounts for surveillance, interdiction, systematic training, education and outreach and lastly, meaningful sanctions. Although it explores many surveillance technologies and management tools, this guide more importantly provides a blueprint for the capacity building and professionalization of enforcement officers, who truly are the core component of any fisheries enforcement program

The Ecuador Blueprint: A Plan to Strengthen Coastal Marine Protected Areas

Ecuador's coastal and marine area is home to approximately 58% of the country's population. This population lives within 100 km of the coast and is highly dependent upon the coastal and marine ecosystems. Its coastal geography is composed of estuaries, mangroves, mountain systems, beaches, bluffs, islands, shallows, rocky and sandy seabeds and even semi-arid areas: all of which possess tremendous biodiversity and productivity. The convergence of ocean currents creates highly productive rocky seabeds, which are also ideal for the concentration and reproduction of migratory marine species (humpback whales, sea turtles, albatrosses, manta rays, sharks). Ecuador currently possesses 16 coastal marine protected areas (MPAs): nine of which are comprised of estuarine systems and mangrove forests; the other seven are coastal and have a marine protected fringe. Management of current and new protected areas poses a great challenge to the Ministry of the Environment (MAE), as mounting threats will require significant institutional, financial and technological resources. This report analyzes the legal framework, competencies and jurisdictions of all marine enforcement agencies in order to design a cost effective national surveillance system for Ecuador's MPAs. We specifically assessed current MPA surveillance and control capacity at each MPA and designed a blueprint for strengthening enforcement at both the site and provincial level that accounts for factors such as human resources, systematic training, interagency standard operating protocols, vessels, surveillance and communication technology, and long-term costs. With respect to competencies and jurisdictions, the report recommends three priority initiatives that would have immediate positive impacts in MPA enforcement:1. The MAE must formalize interagency agreements with the Navy and Police as Park Rangers do not possess the power of arrest and there is ever growing security risks at-sea; 2. As the Maritime Police, the Navy must increase their involvement in matters of surveillance and control of MPAs; 3. The MPA Directors must begin to utilize their authority to administer sanctions locally in order to expedite the sanction process and ensure compliance.The final enforcement system design provides strategic sensor coverage to MPAs, buffer zones and access ways. The strategy combines high-power video cameras and a robust VHF marine and private radio network with the minimum number of personnel and patrol vessels to provide a constant presence and fast response capacity. All CAPEX and OPEX decisions were made in consideration of a highly limited budget, which is currently underwritten by numerous sources. More importantly, we have defined a blueprint of critical steps for the capacity building and professionalization of the Park Rangers, who truly are the core component of the MAE enforcement program.

Does 'Smarter' Lead to Safer? An Assessment of the Border Accords with Canada and Mexico

This study focuses on the top 100 US metropolitan areas where immigrants live. The authors find key factors that influence homeownership among immigrants include availability of affordable housing, length of residence in the country, and English proficiency. While noting that immigrants are far from a homogenous group, the authors identify strategies that may increase immigrants' chances for homeownership

Spatiotemporal anomaly detection: streaming architecture and algorithms

Includes bibliographical references.2020 Summer.Anomaly detection is the science of identifying one or more rare or unexplainable samples or events in a dataset or data stream. The field of anomaly detection has been extensively studied by mathematicians, statisticians, economists, engineers, and computer scientists. One open research question remains the design of distributed cloud-based architectures and algorithms that can accurately identify anomalies in previously unseen, unlabeled streaming, multivariate spatiotemporal data. With streaming data, time is of the essence, and insights are perishable. Real-world streaming spatiotemporal data originate from many sources, including mobile phones, supervisory control and data acquisition enabled (SCADA) devices, the internet-of-things (IoT), distributed sensor networks, and social media. Baseline experiments are performed on four (4) non-streaming, static anomaly detection multivariate datasets using unsupervised offline traditional machine learning (TML), and unsupervised neural network techniques. Multiple architectures, including autoencoders, generative adversarial networks, convolutional networks, and recurrent networks, are adapted for experimentation. Extensive experimentation demonstrates that neural networks produce superior detection accuracy over TML techniques. These same neural network architectures can be extended to process unlabeled spatiotemporal streaming using online learning. Space and time relationships are further exploited to provide additional insights and increased anomaly detection accuracy. A novel domain-independent architecture and set of algorithms called the Spatiotemporal Anomaly Detection Environment (STADE) is formulated. STADE is based on federated learning architecture. STADE streaming algorithms are based on a geographically unique, persistently executing neural networks using online stochastic gradient descent (SGD). STADE is designed to be pluggable, meaning that alternative algorithms may be substituted or combined to form an ensemble. STADE incorporates a Stream Anomaly Detector (SAD) and a Federated Anomaly Detector (FAD). The SAD executes at multiple locations on streaming data, while the FAD executes at a single server and identifies global patterns and relationships among the site anomalies. Each STADE site streams anomaly scores to the centralized FAD server for further spatiotemporal dependency analysis and logging. The FAD is based on recent advances in DNN-based federated learning. A STADE testbed is implemented to facilitate globally distributed experimentation using low-cost, commercial cloud infrastructure provided by Microsoft™. STADE testbed sites are situated in the cloud within each continent: Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America. Communication occurs over the commercial internet. Three STADE case studies are investigated. The first case study processes commercial air traffic flows, the second case study processes global earthquake measurements, and the third case study processes social media (i.e., Twitter™) feeds. These case studies confirm that STADE is a viable architecture for the near real-time identification of anomalies in streaming data originating from (possibly) computationally disadvantaged, geographically dispersed sites. Moreover, the addition of the FAD provides enhanced anomaly detection capability. Since STADE is domain-independent, these findings can be easily extended to additional application domains and use cases

Developmental contradictions in Ethiopian coffee trade system : the case of Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX)

Ethiopia is Africa's biggest coffee exporter nation with deep history. Coffee discovered in Ethiopia and it continues to be pivotal for the country in many fronts till to date. The coffee linkage with Ethiopia is deep-rooted many historians believe back in 9th century coffee discovered by Kaldi, a goat herder. He discovered it after noticing coffee's energizing effect on his goats. The word coffee itself also derived from place called 'Kaffa' where the trees blossomed. Coffee gradually became a world obsession by spreading from highlands of Ethiopia traveled along spice routes to Yemen, Turkey and Europe. Coffee exporting is a significant portion of Ethiopian economy. It accommodates more than twenty five million peasants which indicate its magnitude for the country. It is one of the leading sources of income for the government and other stakeholders. The establishment of Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) has seen the Ethiopian coffee trade system being transformed. It created a platform of primary, secondary and tertiary market divisions. In a way that the coffee can be traded based on value addition from one division to the other. Unlike the previous centralized warehousing system, it introduced decentralized warehousing and liquoring centers across the country where the coffee quality checked by use of laboratory tasting. It gives a temporary produce storage services until the coffee is sold and ownership of the produce transferred from seller to buyer. The introduction of modernized and transparent system enabled economic gain and helped farmers to enhance their life conditions. The objective of this study was to identify some of the contradictions that are solved in Ethiopian coffee trade activity by the establishment of ECX. In addition, the emerging contradictions and prevailing disturbances at present as well as the overall benefits it brought in relation to farmers' day to day life conditions were analyzed

Bangladesh and Regional Connectivity : Best Practices from Global Experiences

South Asia, economic integration, Bangladesh, transport costs