Perceptions of Peacebuilding in Solomon Islands Post-RAMSI

This In Brief is based on the National Perceptions Survey on Peacebuilding for Solomon Islands commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme under a United Nations Peacebuilding Fund project implemented by UNDP and UN Women (UNDP 2018). The purpose of the study was to provide fresh insight into Solomon Islanders’ perceptions of peacebuilding immediately after RAMSI’s withdrawal. In July and August 2017, 2503 people were surveyed in 24 enumeration areas, which were mainly in and around centres across seven provinces, and included the national capital, Honiara. Limitations to the methodology used included the concentration of target samples in peri-urban and urban areas. While we attempted to mitigate clustering issues around the survey sites, the reported findings should be interpreted in this light. This In Brief summarises some of the survey’s key findings. In particular we highlight the perceived dissipation (but not disappearance) of inter-ethnic tensions and the renewed focus on core development issues among Solomon Islanders. Interested readers should consult the full report

Dismantling OpenPuff PDF steganography

We present a steganalytic attack against the PDF component of the popular OpenPuff tool. We show that our findings allow us to accurately detect the presence of OpenPuff steganography over the PDF format by using a simple script. OpenPuff is a prominent multi-format and semi-open-source stego-system with a large user base. Because of its popularity, we think our results could potentially have relevant security and privacy implications. The relative simplicity of our attack, paired with its high accuracy and the existence of previous steganalytic findings against this software, warrants major concerns over the real security offered by this steganography tool

Access to Justice in Post-RAMSI Solomon Islands Part I: Common Conflicts and Disputes

Solomon Islands’ law and justice sector has received substantial donor support in the two decades since the end of the civil unrest known as the Tensions. Building capacity and coordination across key agencies was an integral part of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI). International development partners acknowledge the importance of access to justice for successful peacebuilding. The Australian government views its commitment to the Solomon Islands justice sector as a ‘30-year plus engagement’. Since RAMSI’s departure in June 2017, there has been considerable interest in evaluating progress and addressing ongoing challenges in this area. This is the first in a series of three In Briefs drawing on findings from the Solomon Islands Access to Justice Survey commissioned by the Solomon Islands government and supported by the Australian government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP 2019a). The findings presented in this series are from the national survey reported in the Survey Summary Report (UNDP 2019b). The survey was designed around closed-response questions with preset response options — including a free-text response — that were developed, tested and validated in Solomon Islands prior to their application. Interested readers should consult the main study reports. This In Brief examines the types of disputes commonly reported, who experienced them and their impacts. The following In Briefs in this series examine perceptions of access to justice and pathways to dispute resolution.Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trad

Access to Justice in Post-RAMSI Solomon Islands Part 2: Perceptions of Access to Justice

This is the second part in a series of three In Briefs highlighting findings from the Solomon Islands Access to Justice Survey commissioned by the Solomon Islands government and supported by the Australian government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP 2019a). The findings are drawn from the Survey Summary Report (UNDP 2019b). The survey assessed justice needs and barriers to effective dispute resolution, particularly among groups recognised as having unmet justice needs, including women and people with disabilities. This In Brief highlights key survey findings concerning perceptions of access to justice. Interested readers should consult the main study reports.Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trad

Access to Justice in Post-RAMSI Solomon Islands Part 3: Pathways to Dispute Resolution

This is the final in a series of three In Briefs highlighting key findings from the Solomon Islands Access to Justice Survey commissioned by the Solomon Islands government and supported by the Australian government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP 2019a). The findings presented are drawn from the Survey Summary Report (UNDP 2019b). The survey assessed justice needs and barriers to effective dispute resolution in Solomon Islands, particularly for groups with recognised unmet needs, in the period following the withdrawal of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI). This In Brief summarises the survey findings relating to pathways to dispute resolution. Interested readers should consult the main study reports.Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trad

Location of All-cause 30-day Readmission Following Total Joint Replacement: Surgical Hospital Versus Outside Hospital

Background: Evaluating posthospital complications and hospital readmissions in the United States is limited under the current system. This is due to an inability to quantify posthospital care delivered to patients at locations other than the surgical hospital. In order to circumvent this issue, information can be sought directly from patients about posthospital health care utilization. This approach provides a more complete record in comparison with methods that evaluate complications treated only at the surgical hospital. Methods: Participants undergoing total joint replacement (TJR) between 5/10/11 and 5/17/11 were identified from the Function and Outcomes Research in Comparative Effectiveness Registry (FORCE-TJR) cohort. The cohort is a nationally representative sample of TJR patients undergoing total knee replacement and total hip replacement. Patients are asked to self-report complications on the six-month follow-up questionnaire. The questionnaire specifically inquires about any emergency department visit, outpatient surgery, or hospital admission that occurred within six months of the total joint replacement surgery. For each positive report of postoperative complication, the pertinent medical records are retrieved and reviewed and discharge diagnoses are used to identify whether the complication is a surgical site symptom or a medical complication. The location of the care is identified as the surgical hospital or an outside hospital. We report on the location of all readmissions within 30 days of discharge from the initial TJR surgery. Results: In total, our sample yielded 112 validated patient-reported readmissions following TJR. Of these readmissions, 75% were treated at the surgical hospital and 25% were treated at an outside hospital. Patients receiving care at the surgical hospital were similar in terms of demographics compared with those seeking care at an outside hospital in terms of mean age (66.7 years vs. 66.9 years, p=0.92), and gender (67.9% male vs. 63.1% male, p=0.65). Additionally, the mean number of days since discharge was similar (16.7 days vs. 15.1 days, p = 0.45) among patients treated at the surgical hospital compared with those treated at an outside hospital. Discharge diagnoses varied by the location of care. At the surgical hospital, discharge diagnoses identified surgical site symptoms as the cause of 36.9% of admissions and medical conditions as the cause of 63.1% of admissions. When compared with discharge diagnoses at outside hospitals, surgical site symptoms accounted for 17.9% of admissions and medical conditions for 82.1% (p=0.067). Conclusion: Public reporting of all post-TJR discharge complications is currently used to compare quality of care between hospitals. However, our study demonstrates that hospitals and surgeons may underestimate their complication rates by 25%. This suggests that novel approaches, such as direct to patient contact, are needed to minimize missing post-hospital event data

System steganalysis with automatic fingerprint extraction

This paper tries to tackle the modern challenge of practical steganalysis over large data by presenting a novel approach whose aim is to perform with perfect accuracy and in a completely automatic manner. The objective is to detect changes introduced by the steganographic process in those data objects, including signatures related to the tools being used. Our approach achieves this by first extracting reliable regularities by analyzing pairs of modified and unmodified data objects; then, combines these findings by creating general patterns present on data used for training. Finally, we construct a Naive Bayes model that is used to perform classification, and operates on attributes extracted using the aforementioned patterns. This technique has been be applied for different steganographic tools that operate in media files of several types. We are able to replicate or improve on a number or previously published results, but more importantly, we in addition present new steganalytic findings over a number of popular tools that had no previous known attacks

Confidence College – an online education tool for neurology patients

COVID-19 and its aftermath highlight the importance of patient self-care and involvement in monitoring and improving their health. Resources to guide this are essential. Our objective was to create a web-based patient education tool, to facilitate patient education and empowerment for people with epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease, available without cost to patients, carers and clinicians. This project was conducted within community and secondary neurology services. Patients and their carers were involved in designing, reviewing and revising the tool, as equal partners with clinicians and digital engineers. A web-based design template was developed with graphics and links to enable patients to create personalised plans. Participants are patients, carers, clinicians (neurology consultants and specialist nurses), neurological charities, the London Neuroscience Clinical Network, NHS England and Shift.ms (a service design team with experience in creating digital services for individuals living with neurological conditions). Shift.ms conducted in-depth interviews. Clinicians used evidence from personal and PubMed databases. Shift.ms analysed and co-ordinated the responses, and designed the pilot tool. Confidence College provides a delivery model for patient education relating to multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease. It requires follow-up evaluation regarding uptake. This web-based accessible patient empowerment tool has no limit on recurrent use, low maintenance costs and no additional costs in up-scaling the number of users. It is ideally suited for use during and after the COVID-19 pandemic

Ground surface subsidence in an afforested peatland fifty years after drainage and planting

In the UK, large areas of peatland were drained for forestry in the second half of the 20th century. Ground surface subsidence and diminishing depth (thickness) of the peat layer can indicate compaction of the peat and/or carbon loss, but there are few long-term datasets from afforested UK peatlands. Here we present an unprecedented 50-year time series of surface subsidence from Bad a’Cheo Forest (Caithness, Scotland). This site was initially surveyed for ground level and peat depth in 1966, prior to drainage and plantation, with repeat surveys roughly 20 and 30 years after drainage. We re-surveyed the site 50 years after initial drainage, producing a unique long-term time series to assess change since these historical studies. Significant subsidence has taken place since drainage, with an average reduction of 56.8 cm (or 13 %) in the depth of peat under forest stands. Subsidence of the peat surface was rapid in the initial phase after drainage and planting but has progressively slowed, with relatively little change between the surveys of 1996 and 2016. These results imply carbon loss but do not demonstrate it directly, as compaction of the peat is also probable. The subsidence data demonstrate that drainage followed by afforestation led to a considerable reduction in thickness of the peat layer and show how this evolved through time