Today, the use of one's bank card to pay or withdraw money is common. Modern technology provides us with the convenience of instant transactions at the automated teller machine or point of sale but unfortunately, it has also brought the reality and risk of card skimming and counterfeit card fraud. Criminals have become very efficient and technologically advanced in skimming and counterfeiting cards, to such an extent that counterfeit card fraud has become a significant threat to the public, banking, retail and business in South Africa. Counterfeit card fraud is a complex, multi-faceted crime, requiring specific skills and knowledge of card counterfeiting methods from police and bank investigators. The scope of its investigation is wide. It includes different crime scenes and offenders, sophisticated equipment and various aspects that need to be identified positively. Investigators find it difficult to identify perpetrators and certain aspects unique to this crime and, as a result, many investigations are unsuccessful. This research endeavours to establish what identification methods are available to investigators and which are effective. / Police Practice / M. Tech. (Forensic Investigation)

Os dentes rosados são um fenômeno que pode ocorrer em vida ou post-mortem. Ele resulta na pigmentação do dente pela hemoglobina que se difunde através dos túbulos destinatários. Vários pesquisadores vêm analisando esse fenômeno a fim de elucidar seu mecanismo e tentar relacioná-lo com a causa da morte e do tempo decorrido da morte, com o objetivo de auxiliar e agilizar o trabalho de investigação criminal na descoberta da real situação da morte. Nesse trabalho o autor procurou correlacionar o aparecimento de dentes rosados com a hora aproximada e a causa da morte, mensurando a coloração. Foi realizado um trabalho de campo no Instituto Médico Legal da cidade de Curitiba onde foram analisados 15 cadáveres, com diferentes causas da morte. Para estabelecer a coloração foi utilizada a escala de cores RGB Hex Triplet Color Chart e realizada a comparação visual dos dentes. Ficou constatado que os dentes da bateria labial, ou seja, de canino a canino, foram os dentes mais afetados e a região cervical dos dentes – colo do dente ou na região da junção cemento-esmalte, ou anda pescoço do dente, é a que apresenta uma coloração mais exuberante. É proposto o desenvolvimento de um colorímetro eletrônico como trabalho futuro, com o objetivo de automatizar a aquisição de cor nos dentes rosados. / Pink teeth are a phenomenon that can occur in life or post-mortem. It is resulted by pigmentation tooth by hemoglobin, which diffuses through the dentinal tubules. Several researches have analyzed this phenomenon, in order to elucidate its mechanism and try to relate to the cause of death and the time elapses from death, to assist and make faster the word of criminal investigation in discovering the real situation of death. In this work the author tried to correlate the appearance of the pink teeth with time and cause of death, measuring the color. Were conducted a field study at the Institute of Forensic Medicine of Curitiba, where were analyzed 15 specimens with different causes of death. For the staining was used to measure the color gamut of RGB Hex Triplet Color Char and held visual comparison of the teeth. It was verified that the teeth of the battery lip, i.e. from canine to canine were the most affected teeth and the neck of the teeth – or the tooth neck region of the cementum-enamel junction, or neck of the tooth, it shows one more exuberant color. Is proposed the development of a electronic colorimeter as future work, with the subject to automate the capture the color in the pink teeth.

Os dentes rosados são um fenômeno que pode ocorrer em vida ou post-mortem. Ele resulta na pigmentação do dente pela hemoglobina que se difunde através dos túbulos destinatários. Vários pesquisadores vêm analisando esse fenômeno a fim de elucidar seu mecanismo e tentar relacioná-lo com a causa da morte e do tempo decorrido da morte, com o objetivo de auxiliar e agilizar o trabalho de investigação criminal na descoberta da real situação da morte. Nesse trabalho o autor procurou correlacionar o aparecimento de dentes rosados com a hora aproximada e a causa da morte, mensurando a coloração. Foi realizado um trabalho de campo no Instituto Médico Legal da cidade de Curitiba onde foram analisados 15 cadáveres, com diferentes causas da morte. Para estabelecer a coloração foi utilizada a escala de cores RGB Hex Triplet Color Chart e realizada a comparação visual dos dentes. Ficou constatado que os dentes da bateria labial, ou seja, de canino a canino, foram os dentes mais afetados e a região cervical dos dentes – colo do dente ou na região da junção cemento-esmalte, ou anda pescoço do dente, é a que apresenta uma coloração mais exuberante. É proposto o desenvolvimento de um colorímetro eletrônico como trabalho futuro, com o objetivo de automatizar a aquisição de cor nos dentes rosados. / Pink teeth are a phenomenon that can occur in life or post-mortem. It is resulted by pigmentation tooth by hemoglobin, which diffuses through the dentinal tubules. Several researches have analyzed this phenomenon, in order to elucidate its mechanism and try to relate to the cause of death and the time elapses from death, to assist and make faster the word of criminal investigation in discovering the real situation of death. In this work the author tried to correlate the appearance of the pink teeth with time and cause of death, measuring the color. Were conducted a field study at the Institute of Forensic Medicine of Curitiba, where were analyzed 15 specimens with different causes of death. For the staining was used to measure the color gamut of RGB Hex Triplet Color Char and held visual comparison of the teeth. It was verified that the teeth of the battery lip, i.e. from canine to canine were the most affected teeth and the neck of the teeth – or the tooth neck region of the cementum-enamel junction, or neck of the tooth, it shows one more exuberant color. Is proposed the development of a electronic colorimeter as future work, with the subject to automate the capture the color in the pink teeth.

The use of technology and science in the investigation of crime plays a major role in the resolution of complicated cases that cannot be solved by means of other available evidence during the prosecution of rape cases. The study details the importance of semen in investigation of rape cases and emphasizes that semen discovered during the investigation must be analysed in all cases of rape and used as evidence in court. The use of semen as evidence in the investigation of rape cases is a modern intervention aimed at producing evidence that is reliable and relevant. / Criminology and Security Science / M. Tech. (Forensic Investigation)

Criminology and Security Science / M. Tech. (Security Management)

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / In crime scene investigations it is necessary to capture images of impression evidence such as tire track or shoe impressions. Currently, such evidence is captured by taking two-dimensional (2D) color photographs or making a physical cast of the impression in order to capture the three-dimensional (3D) structure of the information. This project aims to build a digitizing device that scans the impression evidence and generates (i) a high resolution three-dimensional (3D) surface image, and (ii) a co-registered two-dimensional (2D) color image. The method is based on active structured lighting methods in order to extract 3D shape information of a surface. A prototype device was built that uses an assembly of two line laser lights and a high-definition video camera that is moved at a precisely controlled and constant speed along a mechanical actuator rail in order to scan the evidence. A prototype software was also developed which implements the image processing, calibration, and surface depth calculations. The methods developed in this project for extracting the digitized 3D surface shape and 2D color images include (i) a self-contained calibration method that eliminates the need for pre-calibration of the device; (ii) the use of two colored line laser lights projected from two different angles to eliminate problems due to occlusions; and (iii) the extraction of high resolution color image of the impression evidence with minimal distortion.The system results in sub-millimeter accuracy in the depth image and a high resolution color image that is registered with the depth image. The system is particularly suitable for high quality images of long tire track impressions without the need for stitching multiple images.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The positive identification of human remains that are decomposed, burnt, or otherwise disfigured can prove especially challenging in forensic anthropology, resulting in the need for specialized methods of analysis. Due to the unique morphological characteristics of the frontal sinus, a positive identification can be made in cases of unknown human remains, even when remains are highly cremated or decomposed. This study retrospectively reviews 3D CBCT images of a total of 43 Caucasian patients between the ages of 20-38 from the Indiana University School of Dentistry to quantify frontal sinus differences between adult males and females and investigate the usefulness of frontal sinus morphology for forensic identification. Digit codes with six sections and eleven-digit numbers were created to classify each individual sinus. It was shown that 3D CBCT images of the frontal sinus could be used to make a positive forensic identification. Metric measurements displayed a high degree of variability between sinuses and no two digit codes were identical. However, it was also shown that there were almost no quantifiable and significant sexually dimorphic differences between male and female frontal sinuses. This study confirms that sex determination should not be a primary goal of frontal sinus analysis and highlights the importance of creating a standard method of frontal sinus evaluation based on metric measurements.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Clear coats have been part of automotive field paint finishes for several decades. Originally a layer of paint with no pigment, they have evolved into a protective layer important to the appearance and longevity of the vehicle's finish. These clear coats have been studied previously using infrared spectroscopy and other spectroscopic techniques. Previous studies focused on either all the layers of an automobile finish or on chemometric analysis of clear coats using other analytical techniques. For this study, chemometric analysis was performed on preprocessed spectra averaged from five separate samples. Samples were analyzed on a Thermo-Nicolet Nexus 670 connected to a Continuμm™ FT-IR microscope. Two unsupervised chemometric techniques, Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering (AHC) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA), were used to evaluate the data set. Discriminant analysis, a supervised technique, was evaluated using several known qualifiers; these included cluster group from AHC, make, model, and year. Although discriminant analysis confirmed the AHC and PCA results, no correlation to make, model, or year was indicated.

The use of credit cards has become a way of life in many parts of the world. Credit cards have also created many new opportunities for criminal activity. It is in this light that organizations such as VISA International have explored a variety of security alternatives by constantly reviewing security measures that may be applied to cards and devote considerable resources to the maintenance of security systems and programmes. These programmes mandated by the association, include uniform card standards, security standards for manufactures, embossing and encoding of cards, standards for mailing the cards and credit background investigations of applicants. These standards assist investigators in examining counterfeit cards and distinguish a counterfeit card from a genuine card. The constant reviewing of security features and methods by the association is to create a card that is technically difficult to alter or counterfeit. / Criminology / M.Tech. (Forensic Investigation)

The aim of this paper is to research how advanced accounting software can be used by police detectives, financial risk specialists and forensic investigation specialists, who are responsible for the investigation and tracing of the reintegration of proceeds of crime, from underground banking into formal banking system (pro active and reactive money laundering investigation) with a view on criminal prosecution. The research started of by looking at the basic ways how proceeds of crime are smuggled before it is integrated into the formal banking system. In that context, the phenomenon of Underground banking was researched. Currency smuggling, Hawala currency transfer schemes and the way in which it is used to move proceeds of crime were discussed in detail. Thereafter Formal banking and the way in which proceeds of crime is reintegrated from underground banking structures into formal banking systems were discussed. The use of advanced accounting software to trace the point where proceeds of crime are reintegrated into formal banking were researched extensively. Accounting software and investigative techniques on how to trace financial transactions which might be tainted with proceeds of crime were discussed. Accounting software which can be used on office computers such as laptops were discussed and more advanced automated systems which can be used to trace proceeds of crime transactions in the formal banking systems were also discussed. In specific, the investigative techniques on how to use these systems as investigative tools were discussed in great detail. This research paper gives a truly unique perspective on the financial investigative and analytical angle on proceeds of crime and money laundering detection. / Criminal Justice / M.Tech. (Forensic Investigation)