Showing papers in "Science & Justice in 2018"

TL;DR: This work uses Monte Carlo simulations to compare the output of three score based procedures with reference likelihood ratio values calculated directly from the fully specified Monte Carlo distributions, and demonstrates that scores which are purely measures of similarity are not appropriate for calculating forensically interpretable likelihood ratios.

TL;DR: UKIAFT revision of forensic toxicology laboratory guidelines represents a revision of those guidelines as a result of the changing toxicological and technical landscape.

TL;DR: The problems surrounding digital forensic tool usage, evidential reliability and validation, and establishing a tool's limitations are debated.

TL;DR: The chemical profile of the seized samples was correlated to the 1H NMR spectrum of an isolated CBN sub-fraction, in which the group formed by samples seized in the year 2015 presented lower CBN content in the chemical composition.

TL;DR: The results show that ridge density is higher in females than males throughout adulthood and decreases with aging in the radial and ulnar areas (as the hands widen) but not in the proximal region, indicating that aging changes may conceal the recognized sex differences in ridge density.

TL;DR: The results demonstrate that the M-Vac® has potential for DNA collection from porous surfaces such as bricks, but that alterations to the filter apparatus would be beneficial to increase the amount of genetic material collected for subsequent DNA profiling.

TL;DR: This aim is to highlight a new and improved technique for the recovery of footwear impressions, using three-dimensional structured light scanning, which is non-destructive, safe to use and is fast, reliable and accurate.

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that the newly proposed formulae (for males and combined sexes and the ones by Olivier) provided the most reliable estimations of stature for southern Europeans.

TL;DR: Overall, there was clear evidence of privacy concerns and the potential misuse of DNA records among the public, with a significant number opposing the retention of DNA from the innocent.

TL;DR: The PE quantity, R% and RNORM allowed to follow the ageing of the selected inks over the whole time frame and were identified as the most promising and selected to test three different interpretation models in the second part of this article.

TL;DR: Stable isotopes profile was proven to be useful for origin traceability of crude palm oil samples at a narrower geographical area, i.e. based on regions in Malaysia.

TL;DR: The role of the forensic advisors in Belgium is explained, the path that let to their current status and problems encountered, and in many of the cases they are requested for.

TL;DR: The protocol developed during this trial provides a useful example for agencies seeking to adopt contextual information management into their workflow and is now looking to adopt the protocol into standard operating procedures.

TL;DR: Results indicate age and sex dependent changes in BMD especially for individuals over the age of 55, which offers improvement from current aging methods for older individuals.

TL;DR: A set of preliminary experiments were designed to test whether IFM was "fit for purpose" and, subsequently, to test if any of the three deposition mechanisms scenarios could be differentiated, showing to not have the desired wide appeal for inclusion into a standardised set of protocols within a routine crime scene workflow.

TL;DR: In 2015 and 2016 the Central Unit of the Dutch National Police created and submitted 21 cartridge case comparison tests as real cases to the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI), under supervision of the University of Twente (UT).

TL;DR: It is concluded that future publications should explore the scientific basis of forensic gait analysis to evaluate standards, reliability and validity, as well as reporting the methodologies utilized in relevant cases in the field.

TL;DR: The genetic analysis offered the families the possibility of replacing the number of the grave with the name of the victim, and confirmed the alleged relationship between three victims and their relatives with values over 104.

TL;DR: A highly sensitive and non-destructive surface science technique called time of flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy (ToF-SIMS) was used to image fingermarks on metal surfaces with an exceptional level of detail and these images demonstrated clear ridge definition as well as detail about sweat pore position and shape.

TL;DR: A new sildenafil analogue was detected during routine screening of dietary supplements suspected to be adulterated with an erectile dysfunction drug(s) using HPLC-DAD and was named as desmethylpiperazinyl propoxysildanafil.

TL;DR: Variation in measurements of the standing fleshed foot and those of walking and jumping footprints are identified, including variability between different dynamic states.

TL;DR: Developing and evaluating the potential of three interpretation models to date ink entries in a legal perspective showed that threshold definition remains a simple model easily applicable in practice, but that the risk of false positive cannot be completely avoided without reducing significantly the feasibility of the ink dating approaches.

TL;DR: The preliminary results reinforce the need to take into account both surface type and condition before selection of the most effective fingermark visualisation process and demonstrate the value of techniques such as SEM in developing a fundamental understanding of the interactions between fingermarks and surfaces.

TL;DR: A likelihood ratio can be derived from this type of discrete data based on a calculation of the possible combinations of distinguishable objects (unordered sampling with replacement) in a convenience sample collected from the background population.

TL;DR: A survey of cling wraps and re-sealable zipper storage bags collected in the Australian Capital Territory was undertaken to assess the variability in carbon and hydrogen isotope ratios of different brands and samples.

TL;DR: The standard deviation from the declared %ABV is larger than those previously utilised for uncertainty calculations and illustrates the importance of appropriate experimental data for use in the determination of uncertainty in forensic calculations.

TL;DR: The sensitivity of the Kastle-Meyer (KM) (presumptive), Takayama and RSID-Blood tests (confirmatory) was investigated and the abilities of these tests to detect blood after enhancement were observed.

TL;DR: The adhesion of explosive residues from polycarbonate to the finger was found to be better compared to cotton, while the amount of particles transferred to cotton was higher and the adhesion to nitrile and latex gloves was higher.

TL;DR: This work examines the concentration and spatial similarity of detected but unsolved crimes in police recorded crime data and DNA data over 27 Belgian judicial districts for four crime types and established spatial similarity for certain crime types (in some districts).