Includes bibliographical references. / Henssge observed that even a slight but permanent air movement accelerates cooling of a naked body significantly. However in those experimental studies the rate of air movement was not quantified. Today Henssge’s Nomogram method of thermometric thanatochronometry (mathematic estimation of the post-mortem interval using body temperature measurements) is used the world over and utilises various corrective factors for naked and clothed bodies in still/moving air. The purpose of this research was to correlate measured air flow rates (wind speed) and measured relative air humidity levels (RH) with post-mortem cooling rate in order to formulate appropriate corrective factors to be used with Henssge’s Nomogram. The effect of air flow rates and air humidity on the post-mortem cooling curve was studied within a range of air temperatures using gel-based models (Cooling Dummies) as substitutes for human bodies.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uct/oai:localhost:11427/2697 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Mfolozi, Sipho |
| Contributors | Martin, Lorna |
| Publisher | University of Cape Town, Faculty of Health Sciences, Division of Chemical Pathology |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Master Thesis, Masters, MMed |
| Format | application/pdf |
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