<p>Abstract Cranial base angle, vertebral dimensions, vertebral curvature, and locomotive behavior differ among Homo, Pan, and Gorilla; but many distinctions are obfuscated by dimensional and behavioral overlap among the genera and their fossil relatives. To address these issues, cranial and vertebral measurements (suites) were examined among Homo, Gorilla, and Pan as representative hominines for their posture and locomotion or positional-locomotory complexes. An additional analysis considered Australopithecus afarensis (A.L. 288-1 and A.L. 333) for comparative purposes. Using size-adjusted values with applied Bonferroni adjusted alpha levels, significant results for both the Kruskal-Wallis H-test and Mann-Whitney U-tests indicated statistically significant differences among species for cranial base angle (p = 0.000) and vertebral body dimensions with coronal and sagittal facet orientation (p = 0.000 ? 0.003). Detected significance was present for thoracic and lumbar curvature (p = 0.000) and positional-locomotory complex (p = 0.000) among species, albeit only cranial base angle was significant for the Pan-Gorilla comparison. Moreover, post hoc Spearman?s rho tests indicated significant results (p = 0.000 ? 0.009) with strong positive and negative correlations throughout the column for each species. However, no pattern among vertebral measurements throughout the vertebral column was detected. Lastly, Multinomial Logistic Regression yielded a correct classification percentage with significant model fit (p = 0.000) of 86.4% for the cranial base, 82.8-97.0% for all subsequent vertebrae, and 80.3% for thoracic and lumbar curvature among species. Positional locomotory complexes were also significant (p = 0.000) and yielded a correct classification percentage of 82.2% among bipeds and the two modes of knuckle-walking practiced by Pan and Gorilla respectively. However, misclassifications between human and nonhuman primates for cranial base angle and calculated vertebral curvature suggest that these variables are not viable for assessing either genera or positional-locomotory complexes. Lastly, both Australopithecus afarensis specimens (A.L. 288-1 and A.L. 333) were incorrectly classified. The A.L. 288-1 specimen identified as Homo and the misclassification of A.L. 333 as Pan suggest either species or vertebra misidentification. Overall, the data indicate that both vertebral corpus dimensions and coronal and sagittal facet orientations differ significantly among hominine taxa and can distinguish species and their respective posturo-locomotory complex. As for the evolutionary implications, human bipedalism is distinct as related to cranial base angle and vertebral measurements; however significant differences between Pan and Gorilla suggest homoplasy among measurements and denote parallelism for the emergence of knuckle-walking.

Digital forensics investigations become more time consuming as the amount of data to be investigated grows. Secular growth trends between hard drive and memory capacity just exacerbate the problem. Bloom filters are space-efficient, probabilistic data structures that can represent data sets with quantifiable false positive rates that have the potential to alleviate the problem by reducing space requirements. We provide a framework using Bloom filters to allow fine-grained content identification to detect similarity, instead of equality. We also provide a method to compare filters directly and a statistical means of interpreting the results. We developed a tool--md5bloom--that uses Bloom filters for standard queries and direct comparisons. We provide a performance comparison with a commonly used tool, md5deep, and achieved a 50% performance gain that only increases with larger hash sets. We compared filters generated from different versions of KNOPPIX and detected similarities and relationships between the versions.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Medicine in the branch of Psychiatry Johannesburg, 2014 / BACKGROUND: Sexual offences against children have been an escalating problem in South Africa. Several international studies have found links between mental illness and sexual offenders. However, very little has been published on forensic psychiatric observation populations charged with sexual offences. South African studies have neither reported on mental illness and sexual offences against children, nor on forensic psychiatric observation of individuals charged with sexual offences against children. AIMS: To determine the demographic and clinical characteristics, and outcomes of the observation process, in a population charged with sexual offences against minors, referred for forensic psychiatric observation. OBJECTIVES: To measure the number of individuals admitted to a forensic psychiatric unit for observation, for any charge of a sexual offence against a minor, over a three year period; to determine their demographic profiles; to determine the number assessed to be fit to stand trial and criminally responsible, and the number not fit to stand trial and/or not criminally responsible; to determine if associations exist between the reasons for referral and outcomes in terms of fitness and responsibility; and to ascertain whether mental disorders were present in these individuals. METHODS: This study took the form of a retrospective record review at Sterkfontein Hospital from January 2007 to December 2009. It included all individuals charged with a sexual offence against a minor. Data was collected from the Criminal Procedure Act reports and clinical files. RESULTS: Rape was the commonest charge. More than half the sample was found fit to stand trial and criminally responsible. However, a high number of psychiatric diagnoses were made, of which substance-related disorders and intellectual impairment represented the majority of diagnoses. CONCLUSIONS: Among individuals referred for forensic psychiatric observation, charged with sexual offences against minors, rape was the commonest charge. Most of these individuals were found fit to stand trial and/or criminally responsible. However, a significant number were diagnosed with mental disorders. It is recommended that they receive special rehabilitation and psycho-education into their psychiatric conditions and the consequences thereof.

Age estimation is a critical component of the biological profile in forensic and bioarchaeological contexts. The majority of age estimation methods are most accurate for individuals of younger age cohorts, typically those under 40 years of age. Skeletal degeneration can vary greatly between individuals, making age estimation less accurate for adult individuals. While there are some methods that attempt to age older individuals accurately and precisely, more research must be conducted to expand the range of methods available. Falys and Prangle (2014) developed a method for estimating age in individuals over the age of 40 using three degenerative characteristics of the sternal end of the clavicle: (1) surface topography, (2) porosity, and (3) osteophyte formation. In order to test their method, a sample of 1,510 individuals of known sex and age, ranging from 20 to 101 years of age (males: n = 1112, mean = 50.57, SD = 18.015; females: n = 398, mean = 53.065, SD = 20.358), were drawn from the McCormick Collection and the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection at the University of Tennessee. Due to the paucity of remains of other ancestries, only individuals of reported White ancestry were used in this study. The two estimation methods proposed in Falys and Prangle (2014), regression equation and composite score, were tested to see how well they perform when applied to a different sample population than the populations used to develop the method. When applied to the collected data, the regression equation produced age estimations that fell within the 95% confidence interval in 47.6% of the male sample and 57.4% of the female sample. Composite scores were calculated and compared to the corresponding age ranges provided in Falys and Prangle (2014). The composite scores of the male sample estimated the age of an individual more accurately than the composite scores of the female sample (male = 65.9%; female = 58.8%). The lowest estimation accuracy for both males and females was between 70-79 years of age (male = 46.0%; female = 51.4%). From 80-89 years of age, the accuracy increased for males (76.4%) and females (69.4%). The sample also included individuals under the age of 40 in order to test whether the inclusion of clavicles with recent epiphyseal union would affect the applicability of the Falys and Prangle (2014) method. Multiple regression equations were generated: (1) individuals over 20 years of age, (2) individuals over 30 years of age, and (3) individuals over 40 years of age. The results from the multiple regression analyses show comparable Pearson’s coefficients for the above mentioned equations (r = 0.690, r = 0.632, and r = 0.611, respectively). Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients indicated a correlation significant at the 0.01 level for all three components individually, as well as the composite score. Of the three components, surface topography was most strongly correlated with age for both males (r = 0.643) and females (r = 0.590). Unlike the findings of Falys and Prangle (2014), porosity was found to be the least correlated with age for both males (r = 0.474) and females (r = 0.514). In addition, when broken down into ten year intervals (40-49, 50-59, etc.), the correlation coefficients increase with advancing age. This suggests that the method becomes more accurate as the age of an individual increases. The inter-observer and intra-observer agreement tests produced very low agreement values. The low observer agreement indicates that the current scoring method is not a reliable, repeatable technique. However, when examined further, the observed trait values that differed between the tests primarily differed by one score. These results suggest that condensing the scores in order to account for more variation would likely increase the observer agreement. However, condensing the scores would result in larger age intervals, which nullifies the purpose of this method. The findings in the present study indicate that the sternal end of the clavicle has potential for use in age estimation in older individuals. Although the present study produced lower correlation coefficients than proposed by the original study in 2014, the correlations and age-at-transition test results suggest that the sternal end of the clavicle deteriorates in a predictable manner that, with more observation and understanding, could be used to accurately age older individuals more precisely than the large age intervals currently in use. Despite the correlations between the degeneration of the sternal end of the clavicle and the age-at-death, the error rates suggest it is not a reliable alternative to the current methods used.

Parity status is a supplemental element of the biological profile in forensic anthropology. The pelvis is thought to exhibit alterations to the bone from pregnancy. Two features of the pelvis have been studied for signs of parturition or past pregnancy. The features have been studied with varying results. They include the pubic bone (Bergfelder and Herrmann, 1980, Cox and Scott, 1992) and the preauricular sulcus (Houghton, 1974, Dee, 1981). Maass and Friedling (2014) also looked at the interosseous groove and the iliac tuberosity. This study was modeled on Snodgrass and Galloway (2003) that investigated whether or not parity status can be determined by analyzing several areas of the pubic bone for different traits. Snodgrass and Galloway assessed the dorsal surface of the pubic bone for pitting and measured the height of the pubic tubercle. They also rearticulated the pelves of each subject and measured the arcuate angle. For the current study, a sample of 75 females from the William M. Bass Skeletal Collection at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville was examined. The height of the pubic tubercle and its distance from the symphyseal face was measured bilaterally for each individual. Also, the dorsal surface of each pubic bone was visually assessed for the presence or absence of pitting. Data analysis was then conducted comparing each of these features with parity status. BMI was also calculated for each individual and compared with the three features listed above. There were no correlations found between height of the pubic tubercle, distance of the pubic tubercle, dorsal pitting and parity status. The lack of a correlation between any of the features and parity status make them unusable in forensic applications.

<p> Investigating intrinsic properties as determinants of bone survival has major implications in forensic anthropology. It is useful in the incomplete recovery of a skeleton to know if certain bones that are missing are those that are expected to be missing. Assuming complete recovery, individual skeletal parts should have different recovery probabilities. This research examines the differential survivorship of human skeletal remains based on intrinsic properties (density, size, and shape) of bone. Fifty skeletons from the William M. Bass Forensic Skeletal Collection at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville were measured to determine bone length (cm) and shape (sphere, disc, rod, or blade) for twenty skeletal elements. Density measures (HUs) of skeletal parts were recorded for 11 skeletons from the Texas State University Donated Skeletal Collection. These intrinsic variables were then compared to recovery frequencies from a forensic sample of Arizona-Sonoran desert border crossers (n=380). This study found a correlation between bone length and frequency (r_S= 0.46) and significant differences in the mean recovery frequencies for shapes (p &lt; 0.05). Though no correlation was found for skeletal part density and frequency (r_S= -0.21), structurally dense midshafts of long bones are recovered with a greater frequency than their corresponding epiphyseal ends (p &lt; 0.001). Furthermore, structurally dense crania have the highest survivorship potential (89%). This study substantiates differences in mean recovery frequencies for skeletal elements according to anatomical location (p &lt; 0.05). Anatomical regions and recovery frequencies were used to produce a simple taphonomic model. Educating law enforcement on the value and appearance of high survivorship bones in the taphonomic model is a recommendation to improve policy and practice.</p><p>

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / An in-depth review of relevant international literature in the field of death investigation was performed with the intention of assessing the complex ethical, legal, and medical considerations unique to the investigation of self-inflicted fatalities. The overall goal was to present a set of guidelines to be used in the development of more objective criteria for the determination of suicidal manner of death and to highlight the inherent difficulties in suicide investigation, which can often lead to misclassification at autopsy. Findings showed that suicides rates seem to fluctuate inversely to the number of deaths deemed as being of undetermined manner; this strongly suggests that many suicides are going unreported. There were also a significant number of case studies found which indicated conflicting scientific findings regarding gross anatomical or toxicological findings of suicide victims, and a number of others which showed cases of suicide which were intentionally disguised as either homicidal, natural, or accidental death and vice versa. The most commonly agreed upon signs of each method of suicide are summarized and suggestions for a consistent methodology for both scene investigation and autopsy are given. / 2031-01-01

Mestrado em Ciências Forenses / Master Degree Course in Forensic Sciences

Mestrado em Ciências Forenses / Master Degree Course in Forensic Sciences

Mestrado em Ciências Forenses / Master Degree Course in Forensic Sciences