Age estimation, a component of the biological profile, contributes significantly to the creation of a post-mortem profile of an unknown set of human remains. This goal of this study is to: (1) refine the juvenile age estimation method of cranial vault thickness (CVT) through MARS modeling, (2) test the method on known age samples, and (3) compare CVT and dental development age estimations. Data for this study comes from computed tomography (CT) scans, radiographic images, and dry bone. CVT was measured at seven cranial landmarks (nasion, glabella, bregma, vertex, vertex radius, lambda and opisthocranion). Results indicate that CVT models vary in their predictive ability; vertex and lambda produce the best results. Predicted fit values and prediction intervals for CVT are larger, and less accurate than dental development age estimates. Aging by CVT could benefit from a larger known age sample composed of individuals older than 6 years old.

Age estimation techniques have utilized cranial suture closure, the sternal rib ends, the auricular surface, and the pubic symphysis, each with varying degrees of success. Although recent research has attempted to advance methodologies for age estimation, little progress has been made in discerning forensic age ranges that are beyond general estimates, especially in the old adult (50+) cohort. Since the accuracy of current aging methods decreases as chronological age increases, degenerative changes within the skeleton could potentially yield useful data for establishing and narrowing age estimates for older individuals, especially where only limited or fragmentary remains are recovered. The purpose of the present study was to conduct a visual examination of joint surfaces typically found to be affected by osteoarthritis (OA) by the fourth decade of life using a modified version of the OA scoring system proposed by Buikstra and Ubelaker (1994). According to archaeological, forensic, and clinical research, OA is most commonly found in the shoulder, hip, and knee, making these joints ideal for use in the present study. Within these three joints, ten osseous surfaces were examined: the acromial facet of the scapula, the glenoid fossa of the scapula, the lateral clavicle, the humeral head, the acetabulum of the os coxa, the femoral head, the medial and lateral femoral condyles, and the medial and lateral facets of the patella. Evidence of lipping, surface porosity, osteophyte formation, and eburnation were recorded on an ordinal scale, along with the percentage of the joint surface that was covered by each of the aforementioned traits. The data gathered from this examination were used to create a composite scoring system for age–at–death estimation using a modern North American sample of 206 White individuals from the W. M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection and the Boston University Donated Osteological Collection. Significance testing indicated that sex differences were not present in the current analysis. A paired-sample t–test determined that the sample was affected with statistically significant levels of bilateral asymmetry. In addition, the current method is affected by low levels of intraobserver error, with only 5% of the sample being affected. Pearson's and Spearman's correlation coefficient were used to examine the relationship between a selected variable and age. The results of the present study indicate that OA has a positive correlation with age, although some joints show weaker associations than others. The right shoulder showed the highest correlation with age (r = 0.776, rs = 0.769; p < 0.01), followed closely by the left shoulder (r = 0.753, rs = 0.753; p < 0.01). The next highest correlation with age was observed for the left knee (r = 0.545, rs = 0.568; p < 0.01), followed by the right knee (r = 0.459, rs = 0.459; p < 0.01). The lowest correlation was observed in the left hip (r = 0.414, rs = 0.377; p < 0.01) and right hip (r = 0.476, rs = 0.377; p < 0.01). Data from multiple joint surfaces were combined for statistical analysis to create composite variables for each joint. The composite variables are combinations of traits for each joint that stepwise regression demonstrated as the best indictors for narrowing prediction intervals. This created a series of composite scores for the left shoulder, right shoulder, left hip, right hip, left knee and right knee. Individual prediction intervals at the 90% confidence interval were generated to create age ranges for each composite score. The mean age and frequency of each composite score was also recorded. This multifactorial approach demonstrated that the left and right shoulders provided the narrowest prediction intervals and also possessed the highest predictive power for estimating age-at-death. Relative predictive power was determined using R^2. The R^2 value for the right shoulder was the highest at 0.603, followed closely by the left shoulder with an R^2 value of 0.567. The R^2 value for all remaining variables was less than 0.3, indicating weak predictive power. The results of the present study were then compared to the four traditional macroscopic aging techniques: suture closure, morphology of the sternal rib ends, morphology of the auricular surface and the pubic symphysis. Sample distribution, correlation data, derived age ranges and error rates were compared between previous research and the results of the present study. All age estimation techniques demonstrated a positive correlation with age. Age ranges that were derived using Bayesian statistics or individual prediction intervals are more accurate at predicting actual age than those that were generated using confidence intervals of the mean, which provide information for mean age rather than actual age. In addition, the relationship between bone density and survivability of elements is discussed. It was determined that the skeletal elements utilized in traditional macroscopic aging are prone to breakage and loss based on their bone mineral density and location within the skeleton. In contrast, the proposed method utilized areas of the skeleton which are not typically examined for aging yet are likely to survive destruction from common taphonomic forces, making the use of OA in fragmentary or damaged contexts possible. Future research is needed to address the effects of ancestral variation and interobserver on the proposed method.

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Yes / In recent years, automatic facial age estimation has gained popularity due to its numerous applications. Much work has been done on frontal images and lately, minimal estimation errors have been achieved on most of the benchmark databases. However, in reality, images obtained in unconstrained environments are not always frontal. For instance, when conducting a demographic study or crowd analysis, one may get profile images of the face. To the best of our knowledge, no attempt has been made to estimate ages from the side-view of face images. Here we exploit this by using a pre-trained deep residual neural network (ResNet) to extract features. We then utilize a sparse partial least squares regression approach to estimate ages. Despite having less information as compared to frontal images, our results show that the extracted deep features achieve a promising performance.

Nenhuma / Microanalysis performed in situ by electron microprobe technique (EPMA) enabled systematic and detailed studies of chemical dating of monazite from marine placers in Buena region, northern coast of Rio de Janeiro State. High spatial resolution BSE imaging allowed recognizing complex internal zoning and selecting spots for microanalysis. Zoning patterns commonly concentric and complex types for every heterogeneous grains studied presented remarkably similar composition. Heterogeneous patterns probably are associated with metamorphic recristalization (peak of metamorphism) and/or dissolution-reprecipitation (retrograde metamorphism) processes which transported Th contents between different domains of heterogeneous grains. Homogeneous grains are scarce and could be specific cross-cutting section of domains from heterogeneous grains. Following elements have been identifyied by EPMA: Ce, La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd, Dy, Y, Th, U, Pb, Si, Ca, Fe and Mn and revealed a typical Monazite-(Ce) composition. Th contents for concentric heterogeneous grains range from &#8776; 4 to 7 wt% and from &#8776; 2 to 10 wt% for complex heterogeneous grains are related to magmatic monazites undergone to metamorphic processes. Light rare earth elements (including Gd) demonstrate strong depletion related to Dy and Y in every analysed grain of monazite. (La/Nd)N ratio for both heterogeneous (&#8776; 1.5 a 2.7) and homogeneous grains (&#8776; 1.7 a 3.2) is similar, as well as (La/Y)N ratio shows an average value approximately ~ 200 for all grains. U-Th-Pb contents yielded chemical ages in the range since 592 to 530Ma consistent with metamorphism peak during 590 and 550Ma sin-collisional event of the Araçuaí/Ribeira Belt related to Mantiqueira Tectonic Province. Isotopic age data obtained by LA-ICP-MS (580 to 530Ma) are equivalent to chemical ages and validate the laborious methodology for U-Th-Pb ages by EPMA developed and applied in this study. Supported on ages and igneous and metamorphic growing patterns showed by heterogeneous grains, the suggested source rocks for monazite from Buena could possibly be related with lithologies of G2 and G3 suite, crystalized and submitted to metamorphic processes from high-amphibolite to granulite facies. / As microanálises executadas in situ pela microssonda eletrônica, segundo a metodologia desenvolvida neste trabalho, tornaram possível um estudo sistemático da química mineral e datação U-Th-Pb da monazita proveniente de pláceres marinhos na região de Buena-RJ, litoral norte fluminense. Imagens obtidas por elétrons retroespalhados com alta resolução espacial permitiram reconhecimento de complexo zoneamento interno e posicionamento dos pontos para execução das microanálises. Os padrões de zoneamento comumente encontrados em todos os grãos heterogêneos estudados correspondem aos tipos concêntricos e complexos que apresentam composições muito semelhantes. As heterogeneidades de grãos provavelmente estão associadas a processos de recristalização durante metamorfismo progressivo (pico do metamorfismo) e/ou dissolução-reprecipitação (retrometamorfismo), os quais remanejam os teores de Th entre os diferentes domínios dos grãos. Escassos grãos homogêneos de monazita parecem tratar de uma seção de corte em domínios específicos de grãos heterogêneos. Os seguintes elementos foram identificados por EPMA: Ce, La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd, Dy, Y, Th, U, Pb, Si, Ca, Fe e Mn e apontam para composição de monazita-(Ce). Os teores em Th para grãos heterogêneos concêntricos no intervalo entre &#8776; 4 e 7 % (peso) e para grãos heterogêneos complexos entre &#8776; 2 a 10 % (peso) são semelhantes aos valores de monazita magmática submetidas a processos metamórficos. A distribuição de elementos terras-raras em todos os grãos apresenta um forte empobrecimento dos elementos mais leves (incluindo Gd), em relação a Dy e Y. A razão (La/Nd) N para os grãos heterogêneos (&#8776; 1.5 a 2.7) e homogêneos (&#8776; 1.7 a 3.2) é equivalente. O valor médio em torno de 200 na razão (La/Y) N é similar nos grãos homogêneos e heterogêneos. A partir de teores de U-Th-Pb foram determinadas idades químicas no intervalo entre 530 e 592Ma relacionadas com o pico do metamorfismo regional da Província Mantiqueira, durante a fase sin-colisional da Faixa Araçuaí/Ribeira, onde idades variam entre 590 e 550Ma. Idades isotópicas realizadas por LA-ICP-MS forneceram idades (530 e 580Ma) compatíveis com as idades químicas. Esses resultados comprovam a validade da laboriosa rotina analítica para obtenção das idade U-Th-Pb em monazita, utilizando a microssonda eletrônica, que foi desenvolvida e aplicada durante este trabalho. Com base nas idades e nos padrões ígneos e metamórficos de desenvolvimento dos grãos heterogêneos, as prováveis rochas-fonte desses grãos de monazita seriam as litologias das suítes G2 e G3 que foram cristalizadas e, concomitantemente, submetidas a processos de metamorfismo que variaram de fácies anfibolito alto a granulito.

Estimation of age is a crucial step for the identification of unknown individuals. Age is commonly assessed through macroscopic analytical methods based on the gross-examination of age degenerative changes in the skeleton. The choice of the methods relies on the taphonomic condition of the human remains and/or the skeletal element that is available. In cases of very fragmented bones, microscopic techniques remain one of the few approaches to estimate age. Thus, many histological age estimation methods have been developed for different bones and on different samples in the last forty years. Numerous intrinsic and extrinsic factors influence bone remodelling rates and have shown to affect the accuracy of histological aging methods. The present study investigates rib thin-sections from two Mediterranean samples, aiming to explore the applicability and reliability of histological methods in estimating age within these samples. Standard ribs were obtained from males and females (N = 88, Mean age = 60, SD = 17.90) from two samples, Cretans (Greece) and Greek- Cypriots (Republic of Cyprus). The costal elements were processed histologically according to standard protocols and thirteen raw and composite histomorphometric parameters (frequency number of intact and fragmentary osteons, total osteons, osteon population densities - including OPD(I) and OPD(F) - cortical area, total area, endosteal area, relative cortical area, osteon area, osteon perimeter and osteon circularity) were assessed. Intra- and inter-observer errors were examined. Due to the fragmented nature of the costal elements, sampling error was calculated as a means to explore whether the histological variables vary among six different topographical locations along the rib length. A validation study was carried out by applying four existing histological age prediction equations on the entire dataset and on the sub-datasets (sex and samples separately) in order to verify whether population-specific formulae are required for the Mediterranean samples. The relationship between the histological variables and age, as well as sex and samples, was determined through several statistical tests. Lastly, simple and multiple regression analyses were performed testing all possible combinations of variables. The best models ii were finally selected according to prediction power and goodness of fit indicators. The results from intra- and inter-observer errors indicated that most of the histological parameters achieved high levels of repeatability. The preliminary outcome from the sampling error pilot study suggested low variability among the six thin-sections from each rib. According to the validation study, three of the four age prediction equations resulted in high underestimation of age, indicating that population-specific formulae are needed to provide more accurate age estimates. Most of the histological variables showed a statistically significant correlation with age with some differences observed by sex and by sample. Forty-one models were generated concluding that osteon densities along with rib and osteon measurements formulae produced the most accurate results. The best model generated from the entire dataset included OPD and osteon circularity with a standard error of the estimate of 10.45 years. When sex and samples were separated, the best model selected included OPD and osteon perimeter producing a standard error of the estimate of 8 years for Cypriots. This research demonstrates that quantitative bone histology is a feasible method to estimate age on the Mediterranean samples obtaining errors rates that are in accordance with macroscopic ageing techniques. Inter-population variation in remodeling rates is suggested; however, the inclusion of other bones presenting different remodelling dynamics (such as femora) is recommended to further explore this hypothesis. This study contributes to the creation of population-specific standards for Cretans and Cypriots.