Univ., Diss.--Paris., 2002.

Thesis (M.S.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Computer Science. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

For millions of people worldwide the use of computers has become a central part of life. Criminals are exploiting these technological advances for illegal activities. This growth of technology has therefore produced a completely new source of evidence referred to as ‘electronic evidence’. In light of this the researcher focused on the collection of electronic evidence and its admissibility at trial. The study intends to assist and give guidance to investigators to collect electronic evidence properly and legally and ensure that it is admitted as evidence in court. Electronic evidence is fragile and volatile by nature and therefore requires the investigator always to exercise reasonable care during its collection, preservation and analysis to protect its identity and integrity. The legal requirements that the collected electronic evidence must satisfy for it to be admissible in court are relevance, reliability, and authenticity. When presenting the evidence in court the investigator should always keep in mind that the judges are not specialists in the computing environment and that therefore the investigator must be able to explain how the chain of custody was maintained during the collection, preservation and analysis of electronic evidence. The complex technology behind electronic evidence must be clearly explained so that the court is able to understand the evidence in a way that an ordinary person or those who have never used a computer before can. This is because the court always relies on the expertise of the investigator to understand electronic evidence and make a ruling on matters related to it. / Police Practice / M. Tech. (Forensic Investigation)

Orientador: Clemente Maia da Silva Fernandes / Resumo: A Reconstrução Facial Forense (RFF) é uma técnica das Ciências Forenses que possibilita o reconhecimento de um indivíduo, a partir da modelagem dos contornos dos tecidos faciais sobre um crânio encontrado sem identificação. Para isto é necessário ter o conhecimento da espessura dos tecidos moles faciais (ETMFs) que recobrem os pontos craniométricos no crânio subjacente, pois os mesmos são utilizados como base para a obtenção do contorno facial. Fatores como sexo, ancestralidade, idade, e índice de massa corporal (IMC) influenciam tais espessuras. O objetivo deste estudo foi mensurar ETMFs de sujeitos brasileiros adultos vivos, a partir de imagens de tomografia computadorizada de feixe cônico (TCFC), considerando-se as variáveis sexo, cor de pele, idade e índice de massa corporal. Foram efetuadas mensurações de 21 pontos craniométricos de referência através do uso do software Osirix Lite. Um total de 92 imagens foram analisadas (62 de sujeitos do sexo feminino e 30 do sexo masculino). Os resultados obtidos mostraram que os homens, na maioria das vezes, apresentaram espessuras de tecidos moles faciais maiores do que as mulheres. Em relação às outras variáveis, houve interação com o sexo a cor de pele nos pontos glabela, nasion, infradentale, eminência frontal, supraorbital e linha oclusal, mas nos pontos eminência mentoniana e suborbital a significância foi correspondente à cor da pele. O IMC não evidenciou interação com o sexo, porém, nos pontos filtro médio e supradentale, os... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Forensic Facial Reconstruction (FFR) is a Forensic Science technique that enables the recognition of an individual, from modeling the contours of facial tissues on a skull found without identification. For this, it is necessary to know the thickness of the facial soft tissue that covers the craniometric points in the underlying skull, since they are used as the basis for obtaining the facial contour. Factors such as sex, ancestry, age, and body mass index (BMI) influence such thicknesses. The objective of this study was to measure the facial soft tissue thickness (FSTT) of living adult Brazilian subjects using cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) images, considering the variables sex, skin color, age and body mass index. Twenty-one reference craniometric points were measured using the Osirix Lite software. A total of 92 images were analyzed (62 females and 30 males). The results showed that men, for the most part, had greater facial soft tissue thicknesses than women. In relation to the other variables, there was interaction with the skin color at the glabella, nasion, infradentale, frontal eminence, supraorbital and occlusal lines, but at the eminence points of the chin and suborbital the significance was corresponding to the color of the skin. The BMI did not show interaction with the sex, however, in the medium and supradentale filter points, the men presented higher values of thickness, independently of the BMI. At the remaining points, only BMI influenced the thickness o... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Orientador: Eduardo Daruge Junior / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Odontologia de Piracicaba / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-25T14:52:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Miranda_GeraldoElias_M.pdf: 1300905 bytes, checksum: 727847fefeb94b489d815161f789fc98 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: A utilização de técnicas de triagem como a alternate light source (ALS) é importante para encontrar evidências biológicas em uma cena de crime. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar se a fluorescência do fluido biológico (sangue, sêmen, saliva e urina) depositado em diferentes superfícies sofre variação em função da idade da amostra. A mancha foi iluminada com uma ALS da marca Megamaxx¿ System e fotografada com o auxílio do Canon EOS Utility¿. A análise das imagens foi feita por meio de uma combinação dos programas Adobe Photoshop¿ e ImageJ¿. O Adobe Photoshop¿ foi utilizado para preparar as fotografias para as análises e o ImageJ¿ para registrar o valor do brilho do pixel da imagem. Os dados obtidos foram submetidos na técnica de análise de variância por meio do ajuste de um modelo linear generalizado misto com dois fatores fixos e um terceiro fator, o tempo, analisado como medidas repetidas no formato de efeito aleatório com matriz de covariância do tipo autorregressivo de primeira ordem. Efeitos significativos tiveram suas médias comparadas duas a duas por meio do teste de Tukey. Pode-se concluir que a fluorescência dos fluidos biológicos analisados variaram em função do tempo em que foram expostos. A fluorescência foi menor quando as amostras estavam úmidas e permaneceram constantes quando estavam secas até o tempo máximo analisado (60 dias), independentemente do substrato em que o fluido foi depositado. Portanto, o perito forense pode detectar fluidos biológicos no local do crime usando uma ALS mesmo após vários dias da ocorrência do crime / Abstract: The use of screening techniques, such as an alternative light source (ALS), is important for finding biological evidence at a crime scene. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether biological fluid (blood, semen, saliva, and urine) deposited on different surfaces changes as a function of the age of the sample. Stains were illuminated with a Megamaxx¿ ALS System and photographed with a Canon¿ camera. Adobe Photoshop¿ was utilized to prepare photographs for analysis, and then ImageJ¿ was used to record the brightness values of pixels in the images. Data were submitted to analysis of variance using a generalized linear mixed model with two fixed effects (surface and fluid). Time was treated as a random effect (through repeated measures) with a first-order autoregressive covariance structure. Means of significant effects were compared by the Tukey test. In all tests, a 5% level of significance was established. The fluorescence of the analyzed biological material varied depending on the age of the sample. Fluorescence was lower when the samples were moist. Fluorescence remained constant when the sample was dry, up to the maximum period analyzed (60 days), independent of the substrate on which the fluid was deposited. Therefore, the forensic expert can detect biological fluids at the crime scene using an ALS even several days after a crime has occurred / Mestrado / Odontologia Legal e Deontologia / Mestre em Biologia Buco-Dental

The acquisition of digital evidence is the most crucial part of the entire digital forensics process. During this process, digital evidence is acquired in a forensically sound manner to ensure the legal admissibility and reliability of that evidence in court. In the acquisition process various hardware or software tools are used to acquire the digital evidence. All of the digital forensic standards relating to the acquisition of digital evidence require that the hardware and software tools used in the acquisition process are validated as functioning correctly and reliably, as this lends credibility to the evidence in court. In fact the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 in South Africa specifically requires courts to consider issues such as reliability and the manner in which the integrity of digital evidence is ensured when assessing the evidential weight of digital evidence. Previous research into quality assurance in the practice of digital forensics in South Africa identified that in general, tool validation was not performed, and as such a hypothesis was proposed that digital forensic practitioners in South Africa make use of hardware and/or software tools for the forensic acquisition of digital evidence, whose validity and/or reliability cannot be objectively proven. As such the reliability of any digital evidence preserved using those tools is potentially unreliable. This hypothesis was tested in the research through the use of a survey of digital forensic practitioners in South Africa. The research established that the majority of digital forensic practitioners do not use tools in the forensic acquisition of digital evidence that can be proven to be validated and/or reliable. While just under a fifth of digital forensic practitioners can provide some proof of validation and/or reliability, the proof of validation does not meet formal international standards. In essence this means that digital evidence, which is preserved through the use of specific hardware and/or software tools for subsequent presentation and reliance upon as evidence in a court of law, is preserved by tools where the objective and scientific validity thereof has not been determined. Since South African courts must consider reliability in terms of Section 15(3) of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 in assessing the weight of digital evidence, this is undermined through the current state of practice in South Africa by digital forensic practitioners.

No description available.

La progression fulgurante des sciences biologiques, dont les impacts sociétaux n’avaient peut être pas été suffisamment anticipés par le droit international, a créé des conflits conceptuels qu’il est souhaitable d’appréhender dans des débats constructifs respectueux de la richesse des différences individuelles, afin d’éviter des cloisonnements idéologiques qui ne seront d’aucun bénéfice pour l’Humanité. L’analyse des sources du concept de données personnelles et de l’évolution de son acception, renvoie au très long et difficile chemin parcouru depuis les premiers textes fondateurs européens jusqu’à la consécration de la notion de respect du droit à la vie privée que l’on doit à l’opiniâtreté de ses deux défenseurs qu’étaient Samuel Warren et Louis Brandeis, dont l’œuvre séminale a impacté le droit international dans son ensemble. Les données personnelles, maintenant identifiées à des data, sont devenues des ressources convoitées par les mondes de l’économie, du commerce électronique, de la biomédecine et de la criminologie. La dématérialisation des caractéristiques individuelles qui en a découlé a provoqué une immense vague de problèmes et différends relatifs aux modalités de collecte, traitement, diffusion et conservation de ces données, surtout quand elles concernaient des identifiants sensibles tels que les données génétiques. Les secrets de la vie et de l’hérédité s’ouvrent maintenant à un grand public souvent désarmé face aux entreprises qui souhaitent exploiter la richesse du soi intime des individus. Les potentialités nouvellement révélées du génie génétique humain, ont mis en exergue la faiblesse et l’inefficacité de textes juridiques et normatifs ayant mal vieilli qui conduisent à des clivages de principe rigides face à des technologies génétiques visant à améliorer le bien-être des peuples. Il est aujourd’hui nécessaire de dépassionner les débats et de redéfinir au plus tôt, sur des bases scientifiques objectives, le statut juridique des données génétiques et de l’information que leur exploitation peut livrer. / The dazzling growth of biological sciences, whose societal impacts might not have been well enough anticipated by the international law, has created conceptual conflicts that should be apprehended in constructive debates, respectful of the richness of individual differences, so as to avoid any ideological compartmentalization, which will be of no benefit to Humanity. The analysis of the roots of the concept of personal data and of the evolution of its acceptance, sends back to the very long and difficult journey from the very first European founding texts to the consecration of the right to privacy rooted in the obstinacy of its two defenders SW and LB whose seminal works have impacted international law as a whole. Personal information identified as data, has become coveted resources by the worlds of economy, electronic business, biomedicine and criminology. The dematerialization of individual characteristics brought with it an immense wave of issues and conflicts in relation with procedures of collection, processing, circulation and confidentiality of this type of data, especially when it dealt with sensitive identifiers such as genetic data. Technically unattainable until now, the secrets of life and heredity are currently being offered to the general public, who often finds itself powerless when facing companies willing to exploit the richness of their intimate self. The newly revealed potentialities of human genetic engineering, has put forth the weakness and inefficiencies of outdated legal and normative texts which, because of their inadequacy to societal evolution, lead to rigid divisions of principles before genetic technologies who aspire to take advantage of the understanding of genomes in order to improve the well being of people. It is necessary, today, to remove any passionate feeling to temper emotional debates by redefining, as soon as possible, the legal status of genetic data and the information that their exploitation can deliver.

Colonial Detection tracks the checkered career of criminal detection, a distinct mode of producing knowledge about crime in the nineteenth century, that relied on the cognitive model of retrospective reconstruction. The dissertation traces its emergence and consolidation in nineteenth century British India as a form of inter-departmental bureaucratic work for government agents at the interface of police investigations, magisterial inquiry, and forensic scientific research. At the same time, it follows the circulation of this model of thinking backward from clues, beyond state institutions, into the domain of popular discourse about crime, investigation, and evidence. Histories of evidence law in the common law world, studied till date as a largely Anglo-American story, tend to focus predominantly on the evaluation of information after they are presented as evidence to judges, juries, and lawyers. Colonial Detection departs from these received histories and recuperates an alternative history of common law evidence from the archives of nineteenth century British India. With a sustained focus on historical developments in the Bengal Province, it shows how legal norms of evidence and inquiry in the colony were indelibly shaped by the exigencies of criminal ‘detection,’ i.e., the investigation of crime and the production of evidence, far away from criminal courts, and long before the commencement of trials.

A reliable and robust laboratory method is essential for the forensic analysis of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), particularly for low-template samples. Electropherogram peak heights are important to the identification of STR alleles, and these peak heights are prone to error. Since error can be introduced into the process during sample preparation, quantification, amplification, or analysis, validation studies are performed in an attempt to characterize the signal variation associated with the process. While current practices assess aspects of a method, such as sensitivity and reproducibility, the effects of daily laboratory alterations are often not considered. Additionally, samples used in a validation study may be prepared using serial dilutions. Therefore, understanding the extent to which error is propagated through the series and the effect it has on the results could help improve validation practices. This work aimed to assess the effect daily laboratory modifications have on the signal in a forensic electropherogram. Specifically, the variability in signal when different capillary and amplification kit lots were used was evaluated against the variability observed when a single sample was either injected or amplified multiple times. The variability was determined via the examination of peak heights, peak height ratios, stutter, and drop-out. The effect of serially diluting samples was examined via an in silico model of the dilution process, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and capillary injection. The peak heights from simulated serially diluted samples using the concentration of a stock DNA were compared to the peak heights from simulated samples that were quantified after the dilution series was generated and prior to amplification. The different capillary lots and amplifications were found to result in greater variation compared to the multiple injections. Additionally, when the stutter percentages obtained from using multiple kit lots were compared to those obtained using the same kit lot, differences in stutter percentage deviations resulted in different stutter thresholds. Drop-out rates were also different between the samples amplified with one kit versus the same samples amplified with multiple kit lots. Therefore, at a minimum, multiple amplifications should be run on multiple capillary lots during validation. Further, if available, the use of multiple kit lots is recommended, particularly in cases where stutter thresholds or drop-out models are used during interpretation. Creating validation samples via serial dilutions was also found to increase the variation observed in peak height in the simulated samples, suggesting that samples should be quantified post-dilution. In addition to characterizing the variability of several components of DNA analysis, an alternative quantification method was investigated in order to decrease the overall variability associated with the quantification process. This work sought to develop an electrochemical biosensor using a single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) probe chemically adsorbed to a gold electrode. This would allow for the direct quantification of DNA and eliminate the need for qPCR and fluorescent-based oligonucleotide detection systems. The DNA probe was successfully adsorbed to the surface of the gold disk electrode, hybridized to a single-stranded complementary DNA sequence, and detected using square wave voltammetry. Additionally, the ability to control the amount of DNA chemisorbed to the electrode surface was investigated by varying the incubation time in the probe solution. The measured current increased as the incubation time increased from 15 minutes to one hour, after which it plateaued. The use of an electrochemical biosensor is a promising alternative to qPCR for the quantification of DNA, with one hour being the optimal incubation time in the probe solution.