Smuggling methods are renovating with more diversified, complicated means, thereby developing concealed and non-sensitive luggage identification technology is of great significance. Herein, for the first time, the second near-infrared (NIR-II, 1000-2500 nm) concealed imaging for identifying smuggled baggage based on organic small molecule luminescent material was studied. A small molecule luminescent material (Y6) with the excitation in invisible near-infrared (NIR) light was used to generate fluorescence-emission in NIR-II region. The traceless Y6 sprayed on the surface of criminal luggage does not emit light under visible light irradiation, but shows hidden NIR-II signs under NIR excitation that can prevent the suspects to find abnormality and lose their luggage. The Y6 organic luminescent material has invisibility, low toxicity, long-term fluorescence stability and high transparency. This NIR-II fluorescence imaging technology can be used as a new type of concealed baggage marking, which is of great significance to help the customs combat smuggling crimes.

This article focuses on the history of the customs laboratories in the United States between the 1870s and the 1930s, focusing especially on the decades up to World War I. It pays attention to the various dimensions of these laboratories, in particular the context of their creation. The first customs laboratory was established in New York in 1878, and over the subsequent years, similar laboratories were set up across the country. The evolution of this network was influenced by factors such as the increasing specialization of these spaces, their geographic distribution, and changes in their organization and scope. The article also explores the types of imported merchandise analyzed in these labs; the roles of their staff, especially customs chemists, both within and outside these laboratories; their impact on the circulation of goods and in generating revenue from taxation; and the main challenges faced by customs chemists in adapting and standardizing their work. After discussing the necessity of customs laboratories in the United States, the article examines their progressive specialization, with a detailed study of the customs laboratory in New York. This laboratory was the largest and most significant due to its location and longevity. Finally, the paper considers the relationship between customs labs and the law, and how these spaces adapted to new challenges during the first third of the twentieth century.

There is an urgent need for biosurveillance of unregulated African meat imports at border points of entry in destination markets. This is underscored by recent pandemics linked to exotic wildlife products. Our objective was to catalog the quantity of meat that is informally transported from Africa into and through Europe often without any veterinary or sanitary checks. We searched and included peer-reviewed studies that contained data on the intercontinental movement of unregulated meat from the African continent. This was followed by an investigation of the reported contamination of such meat. We included fifteen airport studies with limited data on this topic. The references included in this review describe the quantity of meat found at border inspection posts and the presence of pathogens. Disease-causing pathogens were found to be present, and the results are organized into bacteria, virus, and parasite categories. The species of animal meat found in this review were linked to CITES-protected species some of which are known reservoir hosts for infectious diseases. This represents a potential and unquantified human health risk to populations along the supply chain, and a loss to biodiversity in supply countries. Meat samples described in this review were primarily found opportunistically by Customs officials, indicating that any estimate of the total quantities passing undetected through border checkpoints must remain tentative, and cannot rule out the possibility that it is indeed considerably higher. We propose a template for future studies regarding African meat imports at border points of entry. The result of this review illustrates a gap in knowledge and lacunae regarding the amount of unregulated African meat imports worldwide, the pathogens it may contain, and the resulting biodiversity loss that occurs from the intercontinental movement of this meat.

Quick identification of paper types for customs is extremely crucial. Although there are a variety of researches focus on the discrimination of paper, these techniques either require complex preprocessing or large-scale instruments, which are not suitable for customs environments. In this study, we predicted the type of customs paper by using a Micro-NIR spectrometer, and compared the results with Attenuated Total Reflection-Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). Four different classification algorithms, including linear and non-linear classifiers: K-nearest neighbor (KNN), soft independent modeling of class analogy (SIMCA), partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), and least squares-support vector machine (LS-SVM) were employed to classify the type of paper. 20 groups of datasets were selected by Monte Carlo sampling. For Micro-NIR data, the performances of KNN and LS-SVM were outstanding than SIMCA and PLS-DA, with the average accuracies 96.06% and 98.91%, respectively. The outcome of SIMCA and PLS-DA were similar, with the average accuracies 93.00% and 93.97%. Based on the standard derivation, the best stability of models was LS-SVM (1.06%), followed by PLS-DA (1.12%), KNN (1.22%) and SIMCA (3.07%). Compared with ATR-FTIR, the effects of Micro-NIR were better, which were embodies in the better KNN and SIMCA models, and the comparable LS-SVM model. The result demonstrated that the Micro-NIR combined with machine learning algorithms was an effective method to classify the type of customs paper efficiently and quickly, even better than ATR-FTIR.

UNASSIGNED: Globally, forest landscapes are rapidly transforming, with the role of institutions as mediators in their use and management constantly appearing in the literature. However, global comparative reviews to enhance comprehension of how forest management institutions (FMIs) are conceptualized, and the varying determinants of compliance, are lacking. And so too, is there knowledge fragmentation on the methodological approaches which have and should be prioritized in the new research agenda on FMIs.
UNASSIGNED: We review the regional variations in the conceptualization of FMIs, analyze the determinants of compliance with FMIs, and assess the methodological gaps applied in the study of FMIs.
UNASSIGNED: A systematic review of 197 empirically conducted studies (491 cases) on FMIs was performed, including a directed content analysis.
UNASSIGNED: First, FMIs literature is growing; multi-case and multi-country studies characterize Europe/North America, Africa and Latin America, over Asia. Second, the structure-process conceptualization of FMIs predominates in Asia and Africa. Third, global south regions report high cases of compliance with informal FMIs, while non-compliance was registered for Europe/North America in the formal domain. Finally, mixed-methods approaches have been least employed in the studies so far; while the use of only qualitative methods increased over time, the adoption of only quantitative approaches witnessed a decrease.
UNASSIGNED: Future research should empirically ground informality in the institutional set-up of Australia while also valorizing mixed-methods research globally. Crucially, future research should consider multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches to explore the actor and power dimensions of forest management institutions.
UNASSIGNED: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10980-022-01577-8.

The ways in which drugs are policed, differs from country to country, with Drug Detector Dogs (DDDs) a commonly used detection strategy in Australia. However, their effectiveness has been scrutinized by Australian media and research. Despite this, their work and lives \"on the job\" continue to be portrayed in a positive light on popular television shows such as Border Security. The aim of the current study was to ascertain public perceptions and knowledge surrounding DDDs using a sample of 129 Australians. Results revealed participants believed DDDs were equally as interesting and as happy as companion dogs. However, while there was general support for both dog roles in human lives, participants were relatively less supportive of the use of DDDs. Importantly, findings suggest general Australians have little awareness of the lives of DDDs \"off the job,\" including housing and handling practices that directly impact animal welfare. We suggest that greater transparency around these aspects of the dogs\' lives and welfare experience be made publicly available so that the DDD industry can maintain their social license to operate.

This paper has outlined the measures and challenges facing Thailand, which was forced to address a surge in imports of plastic waste and e-waste after China imposed restrictions on its own imports of waste material. Thailand had imposed import restrictions and created an import permit system prior to China\'s decision. However, the nation was not prepared for the extent of the subsequent smuggling and other illegal activities, as evidenced by the various problems related to the permit system and customs enforceability in 2018. In response, Thailand banned imports of plastic waste and e-waste, resulting in a loss of business opportunities for companies with legal import permits. Other nations in Southeast Asia, such as Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines, witnessed a similar surge in imports of plastic waste and e-waste after China\'s decision to restrict waste imports. These nations subsequently also imposed import bans and/or restrictions. However, the enforceability of such bans and restrictions may be limited in Asia. Thus, exporting countries must secure an appropriate international recycling mechanism.

Before European contact, Māori disposed of the dead in environmentally sustainable ways. Revitalizing pre-colonial burial practices presents an opportunity for Māori to evaluate current practices and reconnect with their ancient tribal customs and practices. The research question asks: What is the decolonizing potential of urupā tautaiao (natural burials)? Paradoxically, environmentally unsustainable modern tangihanga (funerals) retain the ethos of customary funerary traditions. Urupā tautaiao presents an opportunity for iwi (tribes) to retain cultural integrity in the death space, without compromising Papatūānuku (earthmother). Methodologically, a Māori worldview frames an action research mindset. The study captures a tribal community\'s exploratory journey into urupā tautaiao.

UNASSIGNED: The best approach to preventing the importation of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is enhancing the detection capacity at customs. The rapid detection is of utmost importance and therefore highly demanded.
UNASSIGNED: We conducted a field validation study of a duplex real-time reverse transcription recombinase-aided amplification (RT-RAA) assay in Zhoushan and Hangzhou customs, in Zhejiang Province, China. The reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay kit routinely used at customs was used in parallel, and the duration the two methods took to complete a specific number of samples was compared.
UNASSIGNED: Among 506 samples collected, RT-RAA results were consistent with the RT-PCR results. The sensitivity and specificity were 100%, the total coincidence rate was 100%, and the Kappa value was 1 (P<0.05) for both methods. The RT-RAA kit took a significantly shorter time in testing the 20-200 samples than the RT-PCR kit.
UNASSIGNED: The RT-RAA detection method is more efficient and suitable for use at customs than RT-PCR assay to realize rapid customs clearance of 200 or fewer samples.

Analysis and identification of seized doping-related products are important tasks for customs or forensic laboratories in order to prevent potentially dangerous and illegal compounds to go into circulation. At the Section of Forensic Chemistry in Copenhagen, we have a workflow consisting of four complimentary validated methods to identify common doping-related substances: liquid chromatography-ultraviolet (LC-UV), LC coupled with time of flight mass spectrometry (LC-TOF-MS), the colorimetric Bradford assay, and an immunoassay. The Bradford assay screens for peptide or proteins in the sample, and the immunoassay confirmed human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). LC-UV was carried out with a C4 protein column for identification of peptides and proteins from a standard reference library, based on retention times and ratios between peak areas at 220, 254, and 280 nm. LC-TOF-MS was performed using a C18 column, and identification was based on comparison of the retention time and the accurate mass with those of reference standards. In 2019, we received 36 samples for peptide/protein analysis, all of which were tested using the LC-UV, LC-TOF-MS, and colorimetric method, and samples suspected of containing hCG were confirmed with an immunoassay. We found a total of 15 samples containing an illegal doping substance, 12 samples containing substances not prohibited by the Danish Doping List, and nine samples containing no peptides or proteins. In conclusion, the four complimentary methods constitute a suitable approach for identifying common peptide/protein doping substances in the day-to-day routine of a forensic laboratory, with limited sample preparation and interpretation of data.