A significant component of forensic science is analyzing bones to assess the age at death of an individual. Forensic anthropologists often include the pubic symphysis in such studies. Subjective methods, such as the Suchey-Brooks method, are currently used to analyze the pubic symphysis. This thesis examines a more objective, quantitative method. The method analyzes 3D surface scans of the pubic symphysis and implements a thin plate spline algorithm which models the bending of a flat plane to approximately match the surface of the bone. The algorithm minimizes the bending energy required for this transformation. Results presented here show that there is a correlation between the minimum bending energy and the age at death of the individual. The method could be useful to medico-legal practitioners. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Scientiļ¬c Computing in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Fall Semester, 2012. / August 8, 2012. / Age estimation, Pubis Symphysis, Thin plate splines / Includes bibliographical references. / Dennis Slice, Professor Directing Thesis; John Burkardt, Committee Member; Ming Ye, Committee Member; Sachin Shanbhag, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_183580 |
| Contributors | Stoyanova, Detelina (authoraut), Slice, Dennis (professor directing thesis), Burkardt, John (committee member), Ye, Ming (committee member), Shanbhag, Sachin (committee member), Department of Scientific Computing (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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