Undelivered risk: A counter-factual analysis of the biosecurity risk avoided by inspecting international mail articles

International mail articles present an important potential vector for biosecurity and other regulatory risk. Border intervention is a key element in Australia’s biosecurity strategy. Arriving international mail articles are inspected and those that are intercepted with biosecurity risk material are...

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Main Authors: Sandy Clarke, Nyree Stenekes, Robert Kancans, Chris Woodland, Andrew Robinson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Pensoft Publishers 2018-12-01
Series:NeoBiota
Online Access:https://neobiota.pensoft.net/article/28840/
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author Sandy Clarke
Nyree Stenekes
Robert Kancans
Chris Woodland
Andrew Robinson
author_facet Sandy Clarke
Nyree Stenekes
Robert Kancans
Chris Woodland
Andrew Robinson
author_sort Sandy Clarke
collection DOAJ
description International mail articles present an important potential vector for biosecurity and other regulatory risk. Border intervention is a key element in Australia’s biosecurity strategy. Arriving international mail articles are inspected and those that are intercepted with biosecurity risk material are documented, including the address to which the article was to be delivered. Knowledge about patterns in the intended destinations of mail article permits more detailed biosecurity intervention. We used geo-location software to identify the delivery address of mail articles intercepted with biosecurity risk material from 2008–2011. We matched these addresses with demographic data that were recorded at a regional level from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2011 Census and used random forest statistical analyses to correlate various demographic fields at the regional level with the counts of seized mail articles. The analysis of the seizure counts against demographic characteristics suggests a high correlation between having higher numbers of university students that speak a particular language in a region and higher quantities of intercepted mail articles destined for that region. We also explore metropolitan and regional patterns in the destinations of seized materials. These results can be used to provide information on policy and operational actions to try to reduce the rate at which mail articles that contain biosecurity risk material are sent to Australia.
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spelling doaj.art-a62d013219784f95ace43c9d2ee787a42022-12-22T02:41:07ZengPensoft PublishersNeoBiota1619-00331314-24882018-12-0140738610.3897/neobiota.40.2884028840Undelivered risk: A counter-factual analysis of the biosecurity risk avoided by inspecting international mail articlesSandy Clarke0Nyree Stenekes1Robert Kancans2Chris Woodland3Andrew Robinson4University of MelbourneDepartment of Agriculture and Water ResourcesDepartment of Agriculture and Water ResourcesDepartment of Agriculture and Water ResourcesUniversity of MelbourneInternational mail articles present an important potential vector for biosecurity and other regulatory risk. Border intervention is a key element in Australia’s biosecurity strategy. Arriving international mail articles are inspected and those that are intercepted with biosecurity risk material are documented, including the address to which the article was to be delivered. Knowledge about patterns in the intended destinations of mail article permits more detailed biosecurity intervention. We used geo-location software to identify the delivery address of mail articles intercepted with biosecurity risk material from 2008–2011. We matched these addresses with demographic data that were recorded at a regional level from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2011 Census and used random forest statistical analyses to correlate various demographic fields at the regional level with the counts of seized mail articles. The analysis of the seizure counts against demographic characteristics suggests a high correlation between having higher numbers of university students that speak a particular language in a region and higher quantities of intercepted mail articles destined for that region. We also explore metropolitan and regional patterns in the destinations of seized materials. These results can be used to provide information on policy and operational actions to try to reduce the rate at which mail articles that contain biosecurity risk material are sent to Australia.https://neobiota.pensoft.net/article/28840/
spellingShingle Sandy Clarke
Nyree Stenekes
Robert Kancans
Chris Woodland
Andrew Robinson
Undelivered risk: A counter-factual analysis of the biosecurity risk avoided by inspecting international mail articles
NeoBiota
title Undelivered risk: A counter-factual analysis of the biosecurity risk avoided by inspecting international mail articles
title_full Undelivered risk: A counter-factual analysis of the biosecurity risk avoided by inspecting international mail articles
title_fullStr Undelivered risk: A counter-factual analysis of the biosecurity risk avoided by inspecting international mail articles
title_full_unstemmed Undelivered risk: A counter-factual analysis of the biosecurity risk avoided by inspecting international mail articles
title_short Undelivered risk: A counter-factual analysis of the biosecurity risk avoided by inspecting international mail articles
title_sort undelivered risk a counter factual analysis of the biosecurity risk avoided by inspecting international mail articles
url https://neobiota.pensoft.net/article/28840/
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