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                            Funding & Awards
 Development of Modern Subadult Standards: Improved Age and Sex Estimation in U.S. Forensic Practice
Award Information
Awardee
              Board of Regents, NSHE, obo University of Nevada Reno
Award #
              2015-DN-BX-K409
Funding Category
              Continuation
Location
                    Reno, NV
Congressional District
              2
Status
              Open
Funding First Awarded
              2017
Total funding (to date)
              $404,255
Original Solicitation
              NIJ FY17 Non-solicited Applications
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2017, $404,255)
As submitted by the proposer: Forensic anthropologists are routinely asked by coroners, medico-legal professionals, and law enforcement agencies to estimate a biological profile (i.e., age, sex, stature and ancestry) from a set of unidentified skeletal remains. In contrast to the abundance of collections and techniques associated with adult skeletal material, there is a paucity of modern, known subadult skeletal material, which affects the creation and validation of appropriate forensic standards. Forensic anthropologists generally rely on a few outdated methods that were devised using historical and relatively small sample sizes. Given documented secular changes in the growth and development of children, antiquated methods are not appropriate to apply to modern subadult individuals in the medico-legal setting. Although recently developed radiographic databases attempt to mitigate the issues of sample size and modernity, conventional X-rays present some major limitations in terms of magnification, distortion, and 2D superimposition of anatomical structures. These limitations have hindered the development of new subadult standards. The aim of this project is to use multi-slice computed tomography (MSCT) data from a large, diverse sample of modern subadults to develop new univariate and multivariate methods to estimate subadult age and sex for practical forensic applications.

The proposed research sample will consist of over 1,500 MSCT scans of modern subadult individuals (aged birth to 20 years) obtained from two U.S. medical examiners offices. Epiphyseal union scoring (long bones and pelvis) and osteometric data from the long bones will be used to develop modern subadult age estimation standards. Geometric morphometric analyses on the subadult pelvic elements and osteometric data from the long bones will be used to develop modern subadult sex estimation standards. Univariate, multivariate, and Bayesian statistical approaches will be utilized for all estimation techniques and will be accompanied by error rates, as necessitated by the Daubert ruling and the recent National Academy of Sciences report.

This project will result in modern, statistically rigorous standards for skeletal age and sex estimation in subadults. The large and diverse sample reflects the demographics and subsequently captures the variation associated with growth and allows for tests of regional differences, so that the most appropriate standards can be presented. The research and methods developed in this project will be applicable to dry bone specimens, MSCT scans, and radiographic images, thus providing tools for forensic practitioners in a variety of settings. This project contains a research and/or development component, as defined in applicable law. ca/ncf



  
Grant-Funded Publications
        
                      Mixed cumulative probit: a multivariate generalization of transition analysis that accommodates variation in the shape, spread and structure of data
                  A multifaceted exploration of ontogenetic variation in vertebral neural canal size across contemporary populations
                  An alternative size variable for allometric investigations in subadults
                  Detangling pubis bone traits in sex estimation: The utility of pubis morphology prior to ventral arc expression
                  The Subadult Virtual Anthropology Database (SVAD): An Accessible Repository of Contemporary Subadult Reference Data
                  Ontogenetic variation in human nasal morphology
                  Sex estimation of the subadult ilium prior to acetabular fusion
                  Standardizing ordinal subadult age indicators: Testing for observer agreement and consistency across modalities
                  Common Skeletal Fracture Patterns of Juvenile Remains
                  Development of Modern Subadult Standards: Improved Age and Sex Estimation in U.S. Forensic Practice
                  The importance of processing procedures and threshold values in CT scan segmentation of skeletal elements: An example using the immature os coxa
                  Assessing the Potential of Ilium Outlines, Greater Sciatic Notch Metrics, and Indices of Pubic/Ischial Length for Subadult Sex Estimation
                  Quantifying Error in Virtual Data Collection: the Impact of MSCT Scan Segmentation Protocol and Inter-observer Error in 3-D Landmark Placement on the Human Subadult Pelvis

  
Date Created: September 23, 2017
    
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