[Truncated abstract] The collection of buccal cells is common practise in the epidemiological and forensic science. Unlike venipuncture collection of blood; it is a safer, non-invasive method for collection of biological material. The methods by which these cells are collected from the inner cheek of an individual and stored are the key elements in preserving DNA. Typically, forensic samples require long term storage. Samples are commonly collected on cotton swabs and stored moist at low to ultra-low temperatures (less than -20oC). Although this is the method of choice in most forensic facilities, there are drawbacks. The samples are inherently contaminated with microflora within the oral cavity and the moisture allows a plethora of microorganisms to grow. As the time frame that has elapsed from collection to storage increases, there is an exponential increase in bacterial cells. Storage of containers containing swabs coated with cells at temperatures below 20oC is also costly due to requirements for large freezers which are running and monitored over 24 hours. In the pass 10 to 15 years, researchers have focussed on alternative ways to store buccal cells. The FTA card system by Whatman is one such development. The FTA card is unique in that it provides a means for the collection of buccal cells for storage at room temperature. DNA profiling from samples stored in this way for 11 years has been successfully achieved. The filter paper matrix of the FTA card binds and subsequently lyses cells. ... (2) The second component of this thesis describes a study which subjected cells on buccal swabs to various conditions of increased temperature over periods of time to establish if DNA could be amplified. The aim was to mimic exposure to the vigours of field conditions, particularly in the extreme local environments that prevail in the United Arab Emirates. a. Initially, buccal cells stored at -20oC over 360 days were used to mimic standard archiving procedures. The cells were subsequently transferred to FTA cards, amplified and profiled by using ABI AmpFLSTR Identifiler PCR Amplification Kit (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA). Complete STR profiles were successfully recovered from the archived swabs. In most cases 100% of alleles were recovered, suggesting that it is feasible to transfer DNA from properly archived buccal swabs to FTA cards. b. The second phase involved the storage of fresh swabs that had been artificially aged by using incubation temperatures ranging from 40oC to 100oC. Partial profiles resulted from artificially aged samples, indicating that the prevailing conditions prior to low temperature storage of the swabs plays an important role in ensuring cellular integrity and thus, DNA quality. Results from this study suggest that it is possible for biological samples stored under correct conditions to be transferred from swabs to FTA card. In combination, the two chapters presented in this study show that it is feasible to transfer achieved forensic biology samples from swabs to the FTA card system. However, it is necessary to ensure that the samples are treated in the correct manner so as to minimise contamination from external sources and to maintain the correct environmental state to maintain intact cells and usable DNA.

The Criminal Law (Forensic Procedures) Amendment Act 37 of 2013 came into operation in January 2015. The Act makes provision for the establishment of a National Forensic DNA Database, which will store DNA profiles of certain groups of people. This research will discuss the establishment of a forensic DNA database in South Africa. The legal position in the United States of America will also be considered, with specific reference to the states of Maryland, California and New York. This research will focus predominantly on the collection of DNA samples and profiles from arrestees. When such samples are allowed to be collected, what offences warrant the collection of such samples and the period within which the DNA samples need to be destroyed. Collecting DNA samples and profiles from certain persons could potentially violate particular rights in the Bill of Rights. The rights to privacy, bodily integrity, equality and human dignity are discussed as well as the approach the courts have adopted in dealing with such infringements or possible infringements. This research furthermore deals with the historical developments of DNA evidence and contains a brief discussion on expert evidence. This research also deals with the evidential value of DNA evidence, as well as possible problems faced by prosecutors and defence attorneys when dealing with DNA evidence. The Criminal Law (Forensic Procedures) Amendment Act is still very new, and therefore, there is not yet much case law in South Africa specifically dealing with the sections of the said Act. This research makes submissions and recommendations regarding certain sections of the Act, as well as the overall constitutionality of the Act.

A atribuição de autoria a falas provenientes de gravações ambientais e interceptações telefônicas de falas que provêm de crimes como tráfico de drogas, estelionato, sequestro, abuso sexual, pedofilia, e corrupção pode apresentar à perícia vários dificultadores para a obtenção de medidas acústicas. Um desses dificultadores pode ser o disfarce de voz. Com a possibilidade de ter suas vozes gravadas, o disfarce tem se tornado comum entre os perpetradores de crimes. Quando a voz é gravada, poderá servir como prova a partir do exame de comparação de locutor (ECL), que reúne metodologias para determinar se duas amostras de fala provêm do mesmo falante. O ECL é realizado por meio de análise perceptivo-auditiva, acústico-instrumental e de reconhecimento automático. Embora já tenham sido desenvolvidas tecnologias de verificação automática, as análises sem interferência humana não apresentam respaldo suficiente, seja pela má qualidade do sinal ou pela escassez de amostras de fala em banco de dados e, por isso, as pesquisas que ancorem as outras modalidades de análise são essenciais. A análise acústico-instrumental emprega ferramentas computacionais para avaliação quantitativa e qualitativa da fala e a engenharia biomédica possibilita o desenvolvimento de tecnologias para instrumentação da análise do sinal de fala. Em busca de um parâmetro acústico que seja robusto em análises de disfarce de voz, este trabalho utilizou medidas de duração de fases de segmentos, que têm sido pouco exploradas em ECL. As consoantes oclusivas não vozeadas do português brasileiro [p, t, k] são produzidas em três fases distintas: fase de oclusão, fase de soltura e transição formântica. As duas primeiras fases apresentam correlatos acústicos que se destacam na visualização do oscilograma: silêncio relativo e produção de ondas aperiódicas. Nesta pesquisa, foram analisadas instrumentalmente as falas de 20 sujeitos, 10 do sexo masculino e 10 do sexo feminino, com idades entre 25 e 55 anos, durante a leitura, com e sem o uso de disfarce, de um texto que simulava uma situação criminosa. Foram obtidas medidas dos tempos de oclusão e soltura das consoantes não vozeadas e constatou-se que o contexto fonológico posterior influencia o tempo de produção. Verificaram-se medidas diferentes entre a primeira e a segunda leitura com uso do disfarce, indicando que o falante apresentou dificuldade na manutenção do ajuste fonatório e que, embora tenham sido encontradas diferenças entre as medidas obtidas em fala com e sem disfarce, a correlação é forte entre as mesmas. O tempo de oclusão aparentou comportamento menos influenciável pelo uso do disfarce para as sílabas [pi, pu, te, tɛ], enquanto o tempo de soltura demonstrou maior suscetibilidade, exceto em [pi, te]. Os resultados permitem que alguns dos segmentos analisados sejam considerados vestígios de autoria dentro de um conjunto probatório. / Authorship attribution of speech, from environmental recordings and telephone interceptions, which can be evidence of crimes related to drug dealing, racketeering, kidnapping, sexual abuse, pedophilia, and corruption, may present difficulties to experts in obtaining acoustic measures. One of these difficulties may be the use of disguise. With the possibility of being recorded, voice disguise has become common among crime perpetrators. When a voice is recorded, it can be an evidence after speaker comparison examination (SCE), which adopts methodologies to determine whether two speech samples have been produced by the same speaker. SCE can be perceptual, acoustic-instrumental and through automatic recognition. Although automatic recognition technologies have already been developed, analyses without human interference do not have enough support, both for poor signal quality or for lack of speech samples. Therefore, research that is anchored in other analysis methods are essential. Acoustic-instrumental analyses use computational tools for quantitative and qualitative evaluation of speech, and biomedical engineering enables the development of technologies and instrumentation for speech signal analyses. In search of an acoustic parameter that is robust in disguise analyses, this research used segment phase measurements, which have been little explored in SCE. Brazilian Portuguese voiceless stops [p, t, k] are produced in three distinct phases: occlusion phase, release phase and formant transition. The first two phases have acoustic correlates that are visually distinct in the oscillogram: relative silence and aperiodic wave production. In this research, the speech of 20 subjects were instrumentally analyzed, 10 males and 10 females, aged between 25 and 55 years, while reading, with and without the use of disguise, a text that simulated a criminal situation. Occlusion and release duration of the voiceless stop consonants were measured and it was found that the phonological context influences the production time. Different measures were found between the first and the second reading with disguised voice, indicating that the speaker had difficulty in maintaining the phonation setting, and that, although there were differences between the measures in speech with and without disguise, the correlation between them was strong. Occlusion time appeared to be less influenced by the use of disguise for the syllables [pi, pu, te, tɛ], while the release time showed greater susceptibility, except for [pi, te]. The results allow that some of the segments analyzed be considered vestiges of authorship within a body of evidence.

A atribuição de autoria a falas provenientes de gravações ambientais e interceptações telefônicas de falas que provêm de crimes como tráfico de drogas, estelionato, sequestro, abuso sexual, pedofilia, e corrupção pode apresentar à perícia vários dificultadores para a obtenção de medidas acústicas. Um desses dificultadores pode ser o disfarce de voz. Com a possibilidade de ter suas vozes gravadas, o disfarce tem se tornado comum entre os perpetradores de crimes. Quando a voz é gravada, poderá servir como prova a partir do exame de comparação de locutor (ECL), que reúne metodologias para determinar se duas amostras de fala provêm do mesmo falante. O ECL é realizado por meio de análise perceptivo-auditiva, acústico-instrumental e de reconhecimento automático. Embora já tenham sido desenvolvidas tecnologias de verificação automática, as análises sem interferência humana não apresentam respaldo suficiente, seja pela má qualidade do sinal ou pela escassez de amostras de fala em banco de dados e, por isso, as pesquisas que ancorem as outras modalidades de análise são essenciais. A análise acústico-instrumental emprega ferramentas computacionais para avaliação quantitativa e qualitativa da fala e a engenharia biomédica possibilita o desenvolvimento de tecnologias para instrumentação da análise do sinal de fala. Em busca de um parâmetro acústico que seja robusto em análises de disfarce de voz, este trabalho utilizou medidas de duração de fases de segmentos, que têm sido pouco exploradas em ECL. As consoantes oclusivas não vozeadas do português brasileiro [p, t, k] são produzidas em três fases distintas: fase de oclusão, fase de soltura e transição formântica. As duas primeiras fases apresentam correlatos acústicos que se destacam na visualização do oscilograma: silêncio relativo e produção de ondas aperiódicas. Nesta pesquisa, foram analisadas instrumentalmente as falas de 20 sujeitos, 10 do sexo masculino e 10 do sexo feminino, com idades entre 25 e 55 anos, durante a leitura, com e sem o uso de disfarce, de um texto que simulava uma situação criminosa. Foram obtidas medidas dos tempos de oclusão e soltura das consoantes não vozeadas e constatou-se que o contexto fonológico posterior influencia o tempo de produção. Verificaram-se medidas diferentes entre a primeira e a segunda leitura com uso do disfarce, indicando que o falante apresentou dificuldade na manutenção do ajuste fonatório e que, embora tenham sido encontradas diferenças entre as medidas obtidas em fala com e sem disfarce, a correlação é forte entre as mesmas. O tempo de oclusão aparentou comportamento menos influenciável pelo uso do disfarce para as sílabas [pi, pu, te, tɛ], enquanto o tempo de soltura demonstrou maior suscetibilidade, exceto em [pi, te]. Os resultados permitem que alguns dos segmentos analisados sejam considerados vestígios de autoria dentro de um conjunto probatório. / Authorship attribution of speech, from environmental recordings and telephone interceptions, which can be evidence of crimes related to drug dealing, racketeering, kidnapping, sexual abuse, pedophilia, and corruption, may present difficulties to experts in obtaining acoustic measures. One of these difficulties may be the use of disguise. With the possibility of being recorded, voice disguise has become common among crime perpetrators. When a voice is recorded, it can be an evidence after speaker comparison examination (SCE), which adopts methodologies to determine whether two speech samples have been produced by the same speaker. SCE can be perceptual, acoustic-instrumental and through automatic recognition. Although automatic recognition technologies have already been developed, analyses without human interference do not have enough support, both for poor signal quality or for lack of speech samples. Therefore, research that is anchored in other analysis methods are essential. Acoustic-instrumental analyses use computational tools for quantitative and qualitative evaluation of speech, and biomedical engineering enables the development of technologies and instrumentation for speech signal analyses. In search of an acoustic parameter that is robust in disguise analyses, this research used segment phase measurements, which have been little explored in SCE. Brazilian Portuguese voiceless stops [p, t, k] are produced in three distinct phases: occlusion phase, release phase and formant transition. The first two phases have acoustic correlates that are visually distinct in the oscillogram: relative silence and aperiodic wave production. In this research, the speech of 20 subjects were instrumentally analyzed, 10 males and 10 females, aged between 25 and 55 years, while reading, with and without the use of disguise, a text that simulated a criminal situation. Occlusion and release duration of the voiceless stop consonants were measured and it was found that the phonological context influences the production time. Different measures were found between the first and the second reading with disguised voice, indicating that the speaker had difficulty in maintaining the phonation setting, and that, although there were differences between the measures in speech with and without disguise, the correlation between them was strong. Occlusion time appeared to be less influenced by the use of disguise for the syllables [pi, pu, te, tɛ], while the release time showed greater susceptibility, except for [pi, te]. The results allow that some of the segments analyzed be considered vestiges of authorship within a body of evidence.

O presente trabalho analisa diferentes aspectos da perícia médico legal, visando buscar formas efetivas de otimizar seus laudos e aferir melhores resultados na busca da verdade dos fatos na Justiça brasileira. Para tanto, é feita uma análise etimológica e uma breve retrospectiva da história da perícia, como forma de melhor entender e contextualizar suas bases e origens. Após, é analisada a realidade brasileira nesta área, em especial no Estado de São Paulo, mediante a verificação da estrutura dos locais de perícia, bem como da qualidade das intervenções dos poderes legislativo e executivo nesta área. É discutida, ainda, a questão da desvinculação da perícia à Segurança Pública no Brasil, bem como é realizado um breve estudo de direito comparado, em que são focadas as diferenças no tratamento legal da perícia entre o ordenamento jurídico brasileiro e os ordenamentos estrangeiros. / This study analyzes several aspects of forensic expertise, aiming to seek effective ways to optimize the experts reports, consequently benchmarking best results in the search for the truth in investigations carried out in Brazil. Therefore, it was performed an etymological analysis and a brief retrospective of the history of forensic sciences as a way to understand and contextualize its origins and bases. In sequence it was analyzed the Brazilian reality in this field, especially in the State of São Paulo, by means of checking the structure of the locations where the States official examinations are conducted, as well as the quality of the interventions of the government and the parliament in this field. This work also discusses the issue of untying the States official examinations from the Citizen Security authorities in Brazil, as well as performs a brief study of comparative Law, which is focused on the differences related to the legal treatment of forensic sciences on foreign Legal systems compared to the Brazilian Legal system.

The Internet has become important since information is now stored in digital form and is transported both within and between organisations in large amounts through computer networks. Nevertheless, there are those individuals or groups of people who utilise the Internet to harm other businesses because they can remain relatively anonymous. To prosecute such criminals, forensic practitioners have to follow a well-defined procedure to convict responsible cyber-criminals in a court of law. Log files provide significant digital evidence in computer networks when tracing cyber-criminals. Network log mining is an evolution of typical digital forensics utilising evidence from network devices such as firewalls, switches and routers. Network log mining is a process supported by presiding South African laws such as the Computer Evidence Act, 57 of 1983; the Electronic Communications and Transactions (ECT) Act, 25 of 2002; and the Electronic Communications Act, 36 of 2005. Nevertheless, international laws and regulations supporting network log mining include the Sarbanes-Oxley Act; the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the Bribery Act of the USA. A digital forensic model for computer networks focusing on network log mining has been developed based on the literature reviewed and critical thought. The development of the model followed the Design Science methodology. However, this research project argues that there are some important aspects which are not fully addressed by South African presiding legislation supporting digital forensic investigations. With that in mind, this research project proposes some Forensic Investigation Precautions. These precautions were developed as part of the proposed model. The Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) Theory is the framework underpinning the development of the model and how it can be assimilated into the community. The model was sent to IT experts for validation and this provided the qualitative element and the primary data of this research project. From these experts, this study found out that the proposed model is very unique, very comprehensive and has added new knowledge into the field of Information Technology. Also, a paper was written out of this research project.

Le XXIème siècle étant le siècle du passage au tout numérique, les médias digitaux jouent maintenant un rôle de plus en plus important dans la vie de tous les jours. De la même manière, les logiciels sophistiqués de retouche d’images se sont démocratisés et permettent aujourd’hui de diffuser facilement des images falsifiées. Ceci pose un problème sociétal puisqu’il s’agit de savoir si ce que l’on voit a été manipulé. Cette thèse s'inscrit dans le cadre de la criminalistique des images numériques. Deux problèmes importants sont abordés : l'identification de l'origine d'une image et la détection d'informations cachées dans une image. Ces travaux s'inscrivent dans le cadre de la théorie de la décision statistique et proposent la construction de détecteurs permettant de respecter une contrainte sur la probabilité de fausse alarme. Afin d'atteindre une performance de détection élevée, il est proposé d'exploiter les propriétés des images naturelles en modélisant les principales étapes de la chaîne d'acquisition d'un appareil photographique. La méthodologie, tout au long de ce manuscrit, consiste à étudier le détecteur optimal donné par le test du rapport de vraisemblance dans le contexte idéal où tous les paramètres du modèle sont connus. Lorsque des paramètres du modèle sont inconnus, ces derniers sont estimés afin de construire le test du rapport de vraisemblance généralisé dont les performances statistiques sont analytiquement établies. De nombreuses expérimentations sur des images simulées et réelles permettent de souligner la pertinence de l'approche proposée / The twenty-first century witnesses the digital revolution that allows digital media to become ubiquitous. They play a more and more important role in our everyday life. Similarly, sophisticated image editing software has been more accessible, resulting in the fact that falsified images are appearing with a growing frequency and sophistication. The credibility and trustworthiness of digital images have been eroded. To restore the trust to digital images, the field of digital image forensics was born. This thesis is part of the field of digital image forensics. Two important problems are addressed: image origin identification and hidden data detection. These problems are cast into the framework of hypothesis testing theory. The approach proposes to design a statistical test that allows us to guarantee a prescribed false alarm probability. In order to achieve a high detection performance, it is proposed to exploit statistical properties of natural images by modeling the main steps of image processing pipeline of a digital camera. The methodology throughout this manuscript consists of studying an optimal test given by the Likelihood Ratio Test in the ideal context where all model parameters are known in advance. When the model parameters are unknown, a method is proposed for parameter estimation in order to design a Generalized Likelihood Ratio Test whose statistical performances are analytically established. Numerical experiments on simulated and real images highlight the relevance of the proposed approach

Presented in this thesis are two methods that are coupled to the instrumentation for the recovery and analysis of ultra-trace illicit drug residues. The electrostatic dust lifting process is coupled with nanomanipulation-nanospray ionization to retrieve drug particles off of hard surfaces for analysis. For the second method, drug residues from fingerprint impressions are extracted followed by analysis. The methodology of these hyphenated techniques toward forensic science applications is applied as to explore limits of detection, sensitivity, and selectivity of analytes as well as immediacy and efficiency of analysis. The application of nanomanipulation-coupled to nanospray ionization-mass spectrometry toward forensic science based applications is considered as future improvements to trace and ultra-trace analysis.

A 2009 report published by the National Research Council addressed the need for improvements in the field of forensic science. In the report emphasis was placed on the need for more rigorous scientific analysis within many forensic science disciplines and for established limitations and determination of error rates from statistical analysis. This research focused on multivariate statistical techniques for the analysis of spectral data obtained for multiple forensic applications which include samples from: automobile float glasses and paints, bones, metal transfers, ignitable liquids and fire debris, and organic compounds including explosives. The statistical techniques were used for two types of data analysis: classification and discrimination. Statistical methods including linear discriminant analysis and a novel soft classification method were used to provide classification of forensic samples based on a compiled library. The novel soft classification method combined three statistical steps: Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Target Factor Analysis (TFA), and Bayesian Decision Theory (BDT) to provide classification based on posterior probabilities of class membership. The posterior probabilities provide a statistical probability of classification which can aid a forensic analyst in reaching a conclusion. The second analytical approach applied nonparametric methods to provide the means for discrimination between samples. Nonparametric methods are performed as hypothesis test and do not assume normal distribution of the analytical figures of merit. The nonparametric iv permutation test was applied to forensic applications to determine the similarity between two samples and provide discrimination rates. Both the classification method and discrimination method were applied to data acquired from multiple instrumental methods. The instrumental methods included: Laser Induced-Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). Some of these instrumental methods are currently applied to forensic applications, such as GC-MS for the analysis of ignitable liquid and fire debris samples; while others provide new instrumental methods to areas within forensic science which currently lack instrumental analysis techniques, such as LIBS for the analysis of metal transfers. The combination of the instrumental techniques and multivariate statistical techniques is investigated in new approaches to forensic applications in this research to assist in improving the field of forensic science.

No / The differentiation between genuine and fake lapis lazuli specimens using Raman spectroscopy is assessed using laboratory and portable instrumentation operating at two longer wavelengths of excitation in the near-infrared, namely 1064 and 785 nm. In spite of the differences between the spectra excited here in the near infrared and those reported in the literature using visible excitation, it is clear that Raman spectroscopy at longer wavelengths can provide a means of differentiating between the fakes studied here and genuine lapis lazuli. The Raman spectra obtained from portable instrumentation can also achieve this result, which will be relevant for the verification of specimens which cannot be removed from collections and for the identification of genuine lapis lazuli inlays in, for example, complex jewellery and furniture. The non-destructive and non-contact character of the technique offers a special role for portable Raman spectroscopy in forensic art analysis.