Dental calculus is a complex biological material that has been found to provide significant evidence of past population diet, health and habitual activity. It is composed of mineral phases, trace elements, organic species and can have inclusions such as starch granules and microfossils incorporated into its structure. This composition has been found to vary among individuals, although the reasons for this are poorly understood. Despite this, there is a wealth of knowledge that can be gained from analysing this biomineral, especially from archaeological remains. In past populations, the variables that affect composition, such as pharmaceuticals and diet are reduced compared to modern populations. As such the reliance on clinical studies that have investigated dental calculus from modern individuals, may be flawed when considering past populations. The focus of this study was to provide insight about the variation in physical characterisation and composition of archaeological dental calculus. Despite there being an abundance of archaeological dental calculus research, this is the first large scale compositional study of specimens from three separate past populations. In addition, this research is the first study to adopt a non-destructive to destructive approach to archaeological dental calculus analysis. As well, it is the first application of nanocomputed tomography to dental calculus from past populations. Consequently, this study demonstrates the first evidence of accumulation layering that has been detected using non- estructive nano-computed tomography. Furthermore, this research has identified three types of layering in archaeological dental calculus. Due to these findings, it is expected that this research will impact the future of dental calculus analysis, especially when considering dental calculus as a method of mapping an individual’s health, diet or lifestyle in the weeks or months prior to death. The overall results of this thesis demonstrate that some aspects of the morphological, mineralogical and elemental analysis of archaeological dental calculus are inconsistent with clinical literature. The results have also shown that there are some differences between the dental calculus from different archaeological populations which can be related to post-mortem burial conditions.

Forensic entomology is an emergjng field in South Africa. Little is known about South African blowflies and factors that affect their use in a forensic context. This work provides a review and synthesis of previous work in South Africa and supplements some of the background and basic knowledge required for forensic entomology in South Africa. The seasonal occurrence of eight forensicaIIy important blowfly species was quantified by fortnightly trapping in Grahamstown, South Africa. The spatial distribution of each species was related to seasonal occurrence and habitat preference. Seasonal distributions of blowflies in carcasses in South Africa were obtained from the literature and compared to the seasonal trapping. By mapping South African locality records of forensicaIIy important blowflies and analyzing these records in a modified Principal Components Analysis of climatic data, the potential geographic distributions of each fly species was modeIIed. Most species were widespread, but Calliphora croceipalpis, Jaennicke, 1867, was found in cold places. This information is important for determining where certain species are likely to occur in forensic investigations. Nocturnal oviposition was examined in both field and laboratory experiments. Lucilia species could oviposit nocturnaIIy in the field, while Lucilia species, Chrysomya chloropyga, (Weidemann, 1818) and C. putoria (Weidemann, 1830) could oviposit nocturnaIIy in the laboratory. These findings are important factors in affecting the precision of estimates of a post mortem interval (PM!) by up to 12 hours. The thermophysiological ranges of four species of adult blowflies were determined by measuring onset temperatures of four significant behaviours: onset of neural activity; onset of coordinated movement; shade-seeking and death. There was a sexual size dimorphism in Lucilia species, Chrysomya chloropyga and Calliphora croceipalpis with females being larger than males. Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius, 1794) had an unexpectedly high death threshold, while Calliphora croceipalpis had the lowest death threshold of the flies tested. These points were related to the seasonal and geographic occurrence of each species, to nocturnal activity and placed in a forensic context.

Magister Scientiae - MSc / Teeth are often used to assist in the identification of human bodies after death, especially in cases where the body is badly burned or decomposed, as teeth are usually preserved for a long period of time, even after most of the other tissues of the body have decomposed. Age estimation can play a significant role in order to help narrow down the spectrum of possible identities, for example from the missing person’s database. Gustafson created a method of age estimation, using 6 age-related changes of teeth that occur after the eruption of the dentition. He then compiled a regression line from which the age of a tooth donor could be determined by examining attrition, change of the level of the periodontal attachment, secondary dentine deposition in the pulp, resorption of the root, apposition of cementum and translucency of the root. Gustafson’s method of age estimation was based on Europeans from Sweden. This age estimation method has been used on unidentified individuals at the Salt River and the Tygerberg medicolegal laboratories, but the accuracy is questionable as to whether the method is applicable to the population of the Western Cape. The aim and objectives of this study were to test the accuracy of Gustafson’s method on a sample of adults of known chronological age, to determine the degree of accuracy of the method and to evaluate the consistency of the method. Extracted mandibular central and lateral incisors and maxillary central incisors were used in this study. Two examiners independently used Gustafson’s method of age estimation to estimate the ages of the donors of the teeth. This method was found to be inaccurate when applied to a sample of the adult population of the Western Cape.

abstract: This thesis argues for the utility of syntactic cartography in representing and analyzing the disputed language of legal statutes. It presents an analysis of two appellate court cases, Flores-Figueroa v. United States (2009) and In re Sanders (2008). Each case involves a difference of opinion with respect to the position and function of prepositions found in 18 U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(1) and 11 U.S.C. § 1328(f), respectively. Informing the tree structures are Merlo and Ferrer's (2006) six diagnostics for PP attachment: head dependence, optionality, iterativity, ordering, copular paraphrase, and deverbal nouns. In Flores-Figueroa, the analysis yields a conclusion that affirms the court's decision, as does the analysis in Sanders, although it only concurs in part. Implications of the study and the overall cartography approach are discussed, including how it could impact the drafting of jury instructions and future legislation. The paper also addresses the unique heritage of legal language, the ways in which it contrasts with civic, non-legal English, and how its characteristics give rise to ambiguity and vagueness, two suitable phenomena for linguistic analysis. Further, it discusses the potential for providing linguistic input on active cases to the Supreme Court and other judicial bodies. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis English 2017

Orientador: Eduardo Daruge Junior / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Faculdade de Odontologia de Piracicaba / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-16T05:25:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Oliveira_OsvaldoFortesde_M.pdf: 1686263 bytes, checksum: 011e66d64852b8a5da91c8f32159b2ce (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Resumo: Objetivo: Verificar se há presença de dimorfismo sexual para cada uma das medidas realizadas no crânio e observar qual das medidas são mais confiáveis para elaboração de um modelo matemático que possa ser aplicado na prática forense. Material e métodos: A amostra foi composta de 100 crânios humanos, sendo 50 de indivíduos do sexo masculino e 50 do sexo feminino, com idade no momento do óbito superior a 22 anos, procedentes do cemitério São Gonçalo, da prefeitura municipal de Cuiabá - Mato Grosso/Brasil. Foram realizadas medições com paquímetro digital e compasso de ponta curva entre as seguintes estruturas anatômicas do crânio: násio-lâmbda; násio-básio; glabela-lâmbda; glabela-ínio; glabela-bregma; básio-lâmbda; básio-bregma; zígio-zígio; eurio-eurio; mastóide-mastóide. Para verificar o erro sistemático intra-examinador foi utilizado o teste "t" pareado e para determinação do erro casual foi utilizado o cálculo de erro proposto por Dalhberg. Foi utilizado o teste t Student para comparar se existe diferença estatisticamente significante nas medidas entre os sexos. Foi utilizada a análise discriminante modelo stepwise para verificar qual das medidas realizadas é mais relevante para ser utilizada em um modelo matemático para diferenciar o sexo. Resultado: O valor médio das medidas realizadas foi sempre superior para o sexo masculino em relação ao sexo feminino, sendo que a distância eurio-eurio foi a única entre as medidas que apresentou-se sem significância após aplicação da estatística com teste t de Student. Conclusão: A distância zígio-zígio foi a que apresentou maior dimorfismo entre os sexos, onde foi possível a obtenção de uma função por análise discriminante juntamente com a distância básio-lâmbda com confiabilidade de 72% de acerto. / Abstract: Aim: To verify the presence of sexual dimorphism for each of the measurements made in the skull and see which of measures are more reliable for developing a mathematical model that can be used in forensic practice. Material and methods: The sample consisted of 100 human skulls of 50 individuals were male and 50 female subjects, age at death of more than 22 years, coming from the cemetery São Gonçalo, the municipal government of Cuiabá - Mato Grosso / Brazil . Measurements were taken with a digital caliper and caliper pliers of the following anatomical structures of the skull: Násio-lâmbda; násio-básio; glabela-lâmbda; glabela-ínio; glabela-bregma; básio-lâmbda; básio-bregma; zígio-zígio; eurio-eurio; mastóide-mastóide.To check the systematic error intrarater test was used to "t" test and to determine the random error was used to calculate error proposed by Dalhberg. It was used the Student t test to compare if exist a statistically significant difference in measures between the sexes. It was used the stepwise discriminant analysis model to verify which of the measures taken are more relevant to be used in mathematical model to differentiate the sex. Results: The average value of measurements was always higher for males compared to females, and the distance eurio-eurio was unique among the measures that showed no statistical significance after applying with the Student t test. Conclusion: The distance zigio-zigio showed the greatest dimorphism between the sexes, where it was / Mestrado / Odontologia Legal e Deontologia / Mestre em Biologia Buco-Dental

Human blood, saliva, semen and vaginal secretions are the main body fluids encountered at crime scenes. In the “Live-Time” era of forensic science it has become evident that the current challenge in the examination of body fluids is that non-destructive screening methods of greater specificity are required for body fluid identification compared to the presumptive tests currently utilised. Further to this, a method suitable for routine application is strongly sought after to determine the age of body fluid stains as it could enable police forces to make informed decisions regarding the relevance of forensic biological evidence recovered from crime scenes. The focus of this research was to investigate the use of analytical techniques (ATR-FTIR spectroscopy and protein analyses; SDS-PAGE and the Bradford assay) in the application of robust confirmatory body fluid identification and age determination. The findings of this research demonstrated that human blood, saliva, semen and vaginal secretions could successfully be detected and differentiated from one another when analysed with ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, based on the unique spectral pattern and combination of peaks corresponding to macromolecule groups, and SDS-PAGE, based on separation patterns of various proteins within each of the body fluids. Direct ATR-FTIR spectroscopic examination of blood and vaginal secretion stains enabled successful detection and identification in stains aged up to 18 months and 6 months, respectively. In contrast, stains of saliva and semen aged up to 18 months and 9 months, respectively, could not be detected when directly analysed. However, when the stains were extracted with a simple water-based method, all four body fluids could be detected. Age determination analysis with ATR FTIR spectroscopy demonstrated that peak intensities and ratios were not appropriate variables to discriminate between body fluids stains and extracts. Successful detection of extracted blood, semen and vaginal secretion stains aged up to 7 days was also achieved with SDS-PAGE, although saliva stains were not detected when extracted. The age of extracted samples appeared to have no impact on the detection of the proteins. Furthermore, comparison of average total protein yield obtained with the Bradford assay from aged extracted body fluid stains demonstrated no correlation with protein concentration and sample age for any of the body fluids examined. Overall, this research has demonstrated the successful application of both ATR-FTIR spectroscopy and SDS-PAGE for the identification of human body fluids. ATR-FTIR spectroscopy in particular has reproducibly demonstrated detection and identification of body fluids, which has great potential to be utilised in the routine screening of biological evidence due to its quick and robust application within forensic science.

This study investigated the influence of an authority figure on an eyewitness identification task. Subjects watched a staged crime and then were administered a photo lineup by either an authority or non-authority figure. Subjects who were administered a lineup by an authority figure were significantly more likely to choose someone from the lineup than subjects who were shown a lineup by a non-authority figure. Similarly, subjects who were given biased instructions were significantly more likely to choose someone from the lineup than subjects who were given unbiased instructions. These effect obtained whether the target was present or absent from the lineup. These data suggest that one way to minimize suggestibility of eyewitnesses is to replace the uniformed officer with a neutral individual. Alternatively, the effect of a police officer on a witness' choosing behavior may be eliminated by providing the witness with unbiased instructions.

This study addresses the use of attitude and personality variables as predictors of compensation and award in a personal injury suit. Safety seeking behavior and attitudes toward tort reform are introduced as case-specific factors that may predict this verdict decision. Two hundred registered voters were surveyed on scales measuring attitudes toward safety, tort reform, and psychiatrists. Subjects also indicated their demographic characteristics and the degree of compensation and amount of award they would render the plaintiff in a civil suit. Results indicated attitudinal variables were more predictive of compensation and award than were demographic variables. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Thyroid hormone (TH) plays an important role in fetal brain development. Therefore, exogenous factors that interfere with TH signaling may exert potentially important adverse effects on brain development. However the specific roles of TH in brain development are poorly understood. The goal of this research is to delineate the mechanisms of TH and potential mechanisms of endocrine disruption at the TH receptor in the developing brain. The dissertation showed that PCBs can reduce the circulating levels of TH, but simultaneously exerted TH-like effects on TH-responsive genes in fetal brain. To determine whether a specific PCB metabolite, 4-OH-PCB106, could exert a direct agonistic effect on the TRβ1, we employed chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP). These studies demonstrate that 4-OH-PCB106 acts as an agonist in GH3 cells, and does not alter the ability of TRβ1 to physically interact with the TRE in the growth hormone (GH) promoter, or with SRC1/NCoR. Interestingly, 4-OH-PCB106 appears to exert actions on gene expression in GH3 cells predominantly through TR, as evidenced by a focused study using differential mRNA display in GH3 cells. A significant impediment in identifying the ability of PCBs to interact with TRs in vivo is that few direct gene targets of TH are known. Therefore, we employed ChIP-on-chip in combination with whole transcriptome expression analysis. We identified 526 direct TH gene targets and these revealed major signaling networks regulated by maternal TH during fetal brain development, including cell-fate specification, cell migration and synaptogenesis. This combination of approaches provides a new look at the role of TH in fetal brain development. In a summary, despite the great deal of research focused on the mechanism of TH action, we do not have comprehensive understanding of the role of TH and its modulators in the brain. Therefore it is important to identify genes that may be direct targets of TH action. This is the first large in vivo database for native TREs in the fetal brain before the onset of fetal thyroid function. Therefore the result will provide profound impact in study of mechanisms of TH as well as endocrine disruptors at the TR in developing brain.

abstract: Determining guilty parties in homicide cases is not always straight forward. The more tools investigators have to assist them, the better. 911 calls are often the least influenced form of linguistic evidence, in the sense that the caller has not yet been influenced by lawyers, law enforcement, etc.. This paper analyzes the reliability of using the Considering Offender Probability in Statements (COPS) scale and concordance program to evaluate veracity in 911 homicide calls. To do this, six 911 homicide calls from Mesa, Arizona were transcribed, evaluated based on the COPS scale, and put through a concordance program. The results showed high reliability with the COPS scale and varying reliability with the concordance program, with benefits and drawbacks to each. This study unveils the need for more research to be done on 911 calls. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Linguistics and Applied Linguistics 2020