bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Estimation of Postmortem Interval Using Kinetic Analysis of the Third Component of Complement (C3) Cleavage
Authors: Kominato Y , Kumada K , Yamazaki K , Misawa S 
Published: August 2015

Abstract
To estimate postmortem interval (PMI), spontaneous cleavage of the third component of complement (C3) was studied in aged blood and cadaveric blood by crossed immunoelectrophoresis. Using the kinetics of C3 cleavage in vitro described as dC/dt = −kC, where C is the concentration of native C3 at time t and k is a first-order rate constant, Arrhenius' equation, and another equation which assumes a linear drop of body temperature after death, the percentages of C3 cleavage were calculated. There was a significant positive correlation between the calculated percentages and the measured percentages of up to 10% in cadaveric blood. We found that the comparison between the calculated percentage of C3 cleavage for each optional postmortem interval and the measured percentage of up to 10% in cadaveric blood leads to the estimation of PMI. This approach is one step towards the development of an accurate method for determining PMI based on C3 cleavage, that is, on a first-order reaction.
Age Estimation from Quantitation of Features of “Chest Plate” X-Rays
Authors: Barrès DR , Durigon M , Paraire F 
Published: August 2015

Abstract
This study presents a method for estimating the age at death from the quantitation of roetgenologic features of X-ray films of chest plates obtained during routine autopsies. Multiple linear regression analysis allows estimation of coefficients of regression of features on known age-at-death individuals. The regression equation can be used in turn for age estimation of an unknown age-at-death individual. The accuracy of age estimation is about ±8.4 years (standard error) which is in the range of previously published macroscopic methods, though the present method is much faster and simpler.
Use of the Cranial Base in the Identification of Fire Victims
Authors: Holland TD 
Published: August 2015

Abstract
Techniques exist for using the cranial base to estimate the race and sex of skeletalized individuals in forensic science cases. The applicability of these techniques to remains of fire victims has been uncertain because of possible cranial-base shrinkage that may result from burning. To determine the amount of shrinkage resulting from low-temperature burning (&lt; 800°C), the cranial bases of eight dissecting room cadavers were measured, the bones then burned, and the cranial fragments remeasured. The wet-bone measurements were compared to the burned-bone measurements, and the percentage of shrinkage was calculated. The average change from wet to burned bone is less than 1.00%, a figure in agreement with other published studies. Since a change of 1.00% is less than intraobserver error, it is argued that low-temperature burning—such as an average house fire—does not significantly impair the accuracy of the identification techniques. Therefore, the techniques should be applicable to many fire victims.
A Look at Newer Photocopiers
Authors: Morton SE 
Published: August 2015

Abstract
Beginning in the early 1970s, office copiers came into widespread use. Their products posed grave difficulties for document examiners. The prevailing feeling came to be that no definite opinion as to handwriting identification or elimination should be based on a copy. In the intervening years, office copiers have greatly improved and document examiners have become more familiar with their limitations. The products of several copiers are examined in this paper to determine whether it is now advisable to base definite findings on machine copies.
Isoelectrophoretogram of Gazelle Hemoglobin—A Suggested Tool for Proving Hunting Offenses
Authors: Marbach A 
Published: August 2015

Abstract
Hunting gazelle is an offense according to Israeli law. When comparative isoelectric focusing was performed on bloodstains made from gazelle, goat, sheep, and cow blood, the pattern obtained from gazelle hemoglobin differed from those of the other animals tested. The use of this difference in hemoglobin pattern is suggested as a means to identify gazelle blood in hunting offense cases.
Two Six-Shot Suicides in Close Geographic and Temporal Proximity
Authors: Marsh TO , Brown ER , Burkhardt RP , Davis JH 
Published: August 2015

Abstract
Two six-shot suicides are reported that occurred in adjoining counties in Ohio eleven-and-one-half weeks apart. There is no indication of any connection between victims, and it is doubtful that the second individual knew of the first death since there was no news media coverage of the first death. The most significant points of commonality between the two cases are the location of the gunshot wounds (anterior chest and upper abdomen) and the responses of disbelief from those outside the medicolegal professions. Knowledge of such cases with a high number of shots and more than one fatal wound can assist death investigators in confronting similar cases.
500 Psychological Autopsies
Authors: Litman RE 
Published: August 2015

Abstract
Five hundred psychological autopsies on equivocal (suicide versus accident) deaths were reviewed to ascertain which factors are significant in making the determination between suicidal and accidental deaths. Factors varied in relative importance according to the method used to cause death. Significant factors included life-style, recent stress, suicidal communications, previous self-destructive behaviors, history of depression, and obvious factors from the physical evidence such as large amounts of drugs in the blood. Although the court-provided decision guideline is “a preponderance of the evidence,” in practice, the assembled evidence is often used to construct a “most credible” scenario to explain the death.
Ethics and the Forensic Sciences: Professional Autonomy in the Criminal Justice System
Authors: Frankel MS 
Published: August 2015

Abstract
Forensic scientists in their roles as expert witnesses or as laboratory employees experience restrictions on their exercise of professional discretion which raise questions about their ability to act responsibly in the criminal justice system. To respond effectively to these challenges to their professional autonomy, forensic scientists must find ways to increase their control over their work and to convince other key actors in the criminal justice system of the importance of doing so.
Do Sex Offenders Minimize Psychiatric Symptoms?
Authors: Grossman LS , Cavanaugh JL 
Published: August 2015

Abstract
With increasing frequency, forensic psychiatrists are called upon to evaluate sex offenders for the courts and criminal justice system. While many clinicians have observed that denial of paraphilia is common in sex offenders, few studies have examined whether this population has severe psychopathology other than paraphilia. Similarly, little is known about whether sex offenders minimize or deny symptoms of psychopathology when undergoing psychiatric evaluations. To study these questions, the authors administered the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) to 36 sex offenders, comparing the degree to which they minimized or denied psychopathology, dividing subjects along 2 dimensions: (a) whether they admitted to, or denied, paraphilia, and (b) whether or not they faced legal charges for sex offense. Results indicated that, first, patients who denied paraphilia were significantly more likely to minimize psychopathology than were those who admitted to paraphilia (P &lt; 0.05); second, patients who faced no legal charges showed significantly more psychopathology than did those who faced charges (P &lt; 0.05); and third, the most frequent forms of psychopathology were antisocial attitudes, depressive features, somatization, and thought disorder. These findings suggest that many sex offenders may experience, and deny, widespread and severe psychiatric symptoms in addition to their sexual disorders.
Validity Testing of Commercial Urine Cocaine Metabolite Assays: III. Evaluation of an Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) for Detection of Cocaine and Cocaine Metabolite
Authors: Cone EJ 
Published: August 2015

Abstract
A validity assessment study was performed on the Genetic Diagnostic Enzyme Immunoassay test kit, a new enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (GDC ELISA) for detection of cocaine and cocaine metabolite in urine. A set of 290 urine specimens, comprised of clinical cocaine urines collected from 5 male subjects who had received single doses of intravenous cocaine, drug-free urines spiked with cocaine, cocaine metabolites, cocaine isomers, and other drugs of abuse, were assayed by GDC ELISA. The results were compared with results by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) assay for benzoylecgonine. Concordance was high between the GDC ELISA assay and GC/MS and with results reported earlier for other commercial assays. Detection times and specificity of the GDC ELISA antibody were most similar to those of the Abuscreen® radioimmunoassay for cocaine metabolite. Overall, the assay produced no false negative or false positive results and appeared to be a reliable screening test for detection of cocaine and benzoylecgonine in human urine.
A Review of Salamander: The Story of the Mormon Forgery Murders
Authors: Grey TC 
Published: August 2015

Abstract
Salamander: The Story of the Mormon Forgery Murders is a well-written discussion of the Mark Hofmann bombing murders that took place in Salt Lake City in October of 1985. The authors have sorted through a wealth of interviews, police reports, court transcripts, news stories, and historical documents to craft their account of Mark Hofmann's intricate web of forgery and deceit that culminated in the pipe bomb killings of two people. The narrative is well paced and very readable. While directed primarily at the general reader, this book should be of interest to those in forensic science fields, particularly document examiners, homicide and fraud investigators, and attorneys. The appendix by Mr. George J. Throckmorton, giving a forensic science analysis of 21 Hofmann documents, is especially interesting with its discussion of the techniques used to expose the Hofmann forgeries.
Evaluation of Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) Isolated from Human Bloodstains Exposed to Ultraviolet Light, Heat, Humidity, and Soil Contamination
Authors: McNally L , Shaler RC , Baird M , Balazs I , Forest PD , Kobilinsky L 
Published: August 2015

Abstract
This study was designed to analyze the effects of common environmental insults on the ability to obtain deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) restriction fragment-length polymorphisms (RFLP) patterns from laboratory prepared specimens. The environmental conditions studied include the exposure of dried bloodstains to varying amounts of relative humidity (0, 33, 67, and 98%), heat (37°C), and ultraviolet light for periods of up to five days. In addition, the effect of drying over a four-day period in whole blood collected with and without ethylenediaminetetraacetate (EDTA) was examined.
The results of the study showed that, under the conditions studied, the integrity of DNA is not altered such that false RFLP patterns are obtained. The only effect observed was that the overall RFLP pattern becomes weaker, but individual RFLP fragments are neither created nor destroyed.
Computer-Assisted Interpretation in Forensic Toxicology: Morphine-Involved Deaths
Authors: Spiehler VR 
Published: August 2015

Abstract
Case data from 200 morphine-involved deaths (Spiehler, V. and Brown, R., Journal of Forensic Sciences, Vol. 32, No. 4, July 1987, pp. 906–916) were analyzed for patterns and relationships using artificial intelligence (AI) computer software. Case parameters were blood unconjugated morphine, blood, brain, and liver total morphine, sex, age, frequency of use, time of death after injection, cause of death, and presence of other drugs. The programs used were Expert 4 (Biosoft-Cambridge), BEAGLE (Warm Boot Ltd.), and KnowledgeMaker (Knowledge Garden Inc.). Interpretation was defined as estimating the dose, response, and time after drug dosing.
The AI programs were used to advise on time and response outcomes for cases, to calculate the probability of the estimate being true, to develop rules for interpretation of morphine-involved cases, and to diagram a decision tree. On known cases the AI programs were successful 70 to 90% of the time in classifying the cases as to response and time. No data on dose were available in this database. The success rate in individual cases was proportional to the program-estimated probability. All three programs found the case parameters of most value in predicting response to be blood unconjugated morphine, blood total morphine, and liver total morphine. The case data most useful in estimating time of death since drug injection were blood unconjugated morphine, percent unconjugated morphine in blood, and brain total morphine. The rule induction programs found that morphine overdoses were characterized by blood unconjugated morphine greater than 0.24 µg/mL, liver morphine greater than 0.50 to 0.75 µg/g, brain morphine greater than 0.08 µg/g or greater than blood unconjugated morphine, and percent blood unconjugated morphine greater than 37%. Rapid deaths were characterized by percent unconjugated morphine greater than 44 to 50%; blood unconjugated morphine, as a function of other drugs present, greater than 0.09 to 0.21 µg/mL; and brain total morphine greater than 0.16 to 0.22 µg/g.
This work demonstrates that inexpensive AI programs commercially available for personal computers can be useful in interpretation in forensic toxicology.
Sex Determination with the Head of the Radius
Authors: Berrizbeitia EL 
Published: August 2015

Abstract
Analysis of a sample of 1108 radii corresponding to 567 black and white North Americans in the Terry Collection at the Smithsonian Institution demonstrates that the diameter of the radial head is an accurate sex discriminator for human remains. A simple “radial-head method” of sex determination consists of measuring the maximum and minimum diameters of the head and comparing such measurements with the test cutoff points. The subject is female when the maximum radial head diameter (either left or right) is less than or equal to 21 mm, and male when the maximum diameter (either left or right) is greater than or equal to 24 mm. The same decisions apply to the minimum diameters of 20 mm or less and 23 mm or more, respectively. When the maximum diameter is 23 mm or the minimum is 22 mm, the subject is more likely male; when the maximum diameter is 22 mm or the minimum is 21 mm, the subject is more likely female. The sample frequency of any one of these latter diameters is never more than 16%.
Cross-validation of the method with a sample of 50 pairs of radii of the Terry Collection, different from the original specimens, resulted in 92% sexing accuracy when using the left radius singly, 94% accuracy when using the right radius singly, and 96% accuracy when using both radii jointly.
Sex Determination of Chinese Femur by Discriminant Function
Authors: Wu L 
Published: August 2015

Abstract
The objective of this study was to provide a method of sex determination for Chinese femur, especially for fragmentary remains. Statistical analysis of 17 measurements based on 141 northeastern Chinese femora shows that all measurements have significant sex differences. Sex determination by the midpoint method of a single measurement can obtain an average accuracy of 76.8%. The results indicate that of all dimensions the maximum head diameter is the best discriminator of sex. It alone can determine the sex of a femur with 85.1% accuracy. The results also show that maximum head diameter, transverse head diameter, epicondylar breadth, upper breadth, and medial condylar length have higher sexual dimorphisms than the dimensions of length. According to the result to stepwise discriminant analysis and the need for sexing fragmentary remains, 22 discriminant functions composed of various combinations of variables were calculated which can determine the sex of the femur correctly 82.3 to 87.2%. The methods of sex determination provided by this paper can be used to sex poorly preserved femora.
Biostatistical Evaluation of Evidence from Continuous Allele Frequency Distribution Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) Probes in Reference to Disputed Paternity and Identity
Authors: Morris JW , Sanda AI , Glassberg J 
Published: August 2015

Abstract
We present a development and discussion of the biostatistical evaluation of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) probe evidence in forensic science cases of disputed paternity and identity. We restrict ourselves to single-locus codominant systems (highly analogous to more conventional systems) which have the apparently novel complication of an experimentally continuous allele frequency distribution. This complication necessitates reformulations of standard biostatistical summaries of the evidence (the paternity index (PI) and the phenotype frequency, respectively). These reformulations, rather than representing a unique case, have applicability to the evaluation of evidence obtained in standard genetic systems now in widespread use.
Typewriting Versus Writing Instrument: A Line Intersection Problem
Authors: Hart LJ , Carney BB 
Published: August 2015

Abstract
It may be possible to answer the question of whether or not a document was signed in blank, or after typing, by a microscopic examination of the line intersections. By removing the typewriter carbon at the point of the intersection, it can be clearly seen whether there is ink under the carbon or if the ink was removed with the carbon. A technique for determining the sequence of typewriting and most types of inked entries was developed. The results may be recorded photographically and subsequently used as a demonstrative exhibit in presenting the evidence during trial.
Dental Characteristics of a Large Military Population Useful for Identification
Authors: Friedman RB , Cornwell KA , Lorton L 
Published: August 2015

Abstract
The number and complexity of dental restorations has decreased for younger Americans. Since the presence and extent of restorations are important data for forensic science identification purposes, the Computer-Assisted Postmortem Identification (CAPMI) system was used to assess the practical effect of the decreased selectivity expected as a result of improved dental health.
Dental examination data from 7030 soliders were recorded on optical mark read forms and entered into a database. The data were reorganized and analyzed to generate summary statistics about the incidence of each type of restoration (divided into 16 categories) for both anterior, posterior, upper, lower, and combined segments. Patients' ages ranged from 17 to 49 with a mean of 24 years 5 months. Sixty percent were from 18 to 25 years old. A characteristic is defined as any situation other than a virgin tooth; for example, extracted, missing, unerupted, or restored. The average subject had 7 dental characteristics with approximately 75% having 4 or more. Within the entire population, 9% had 32 unrestored teeth. 3.6% had only one characteristic.
To test the selectivity and uniqueness of various combinations of dental characteristics, 363 simulations using the CAPMI system were made against the entire 7030 subject database. Sample records (33 per group) with 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9–11, 12–14, 15–18, and 19+ characteristics were chosen at random from the database and searches were made.
The variety of dental restorations was such that even the more common restorative situations yielded only two to four first-place ties. Eighty-five percent of all comparisons made with two or more characteristics gave a unique correct answer. Thirteen percent of the remainder were tied with three or fewer other records. It was concluded that although dental restorations are diminishing in frequency in the younger population they still provide a high degree of selectivity for forensic science purposes.
Forensic Science Identification of Drugs of Abuse
Authors: McBay AJ , Mason AP 
Published: August 2015

Abstract
The guidelines for forensic urine drug testing do not specify the gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric (GC/MS) procedure to be used for confirmation. Full mass spectral documentation together with a positive immunoassay and supporting data should insure the most certain identification. Preparation of specimens which test proficiency adequately is difficult, particularly for marijuana testing. The use of a full-spectrum GC/MS method should make the results admissible under the Frye Standard and the Federal Rules of Evidence, whereas ion monitoring methods could be challenged effectively. Duplicate specimens should be available, one for employer and the other for the employee. Precision suffers when determining low substance concentrations.
Examination and Analysis of Seat Belt Loading Marks
Authors: Gorski ZM , German A , Nowak ES 
Published: August 2015

Abstract
In moderate to severe collisions, large decelerations and hence large forces are generated. Various components of the seat belt system are loaded, and physical evidence of this loading may be observed long after the collision event. Such witness marks result from interaction between different components of the restraint system, or between the restraint and portions of the vehicle interior. Detailed examination and analysis of such marks can establish whether or not the seat belt was in use, and also the precise manner in which the seat belt was worn. Such investigative techniques are critical for evaluating the collision performance of occupant restraint systems, and for positively identifying cases of restraint system misuse. This paper reviews the types of physical evidence which may be observed to determine restraint usage.
Isotopic Analog as the Internal Standard for Quantitative Determination: Evaluation of Mass Spectra of Commonly Abused Drugs and Their Deuterated Analogs
Authors: Ho YS , Liu RH , Nichols AW , Kumar SD 
Published: August 2015

Abstract
Mass spectra of several commonly abused drugs and their deuterated analogs are compared and evaluated with emphasis on the selection of suitable ions for selective ion monitoring when the isotopic analogs are used as the internal standards in a quantitative determination process. Ions selected for this purpose should be of relative high mass with significant intensities, retain at least three labeling isotopes, and be free of interference from the corresponding compound.
Families, Murder, and Insanity: A Psychiatric Review of Paternal Neonaticide
Authors: Kaye NS , Borenstein NM , Donnelly SM 
Published: August 2015

Abstract
Neonaticide is the killing of a newborn within the first 24 h of life. Although relatively uncommon, numerous cases of maternal neonaticide have been reported. To date, only two cases of paternal neonaticide have appeared in the literature. The authors review neonaticide and present two new case reports of paternal neonaticide. A psychodynamic explanation of paternal neonaticide is formulated. A new definition for neonaticide, more consistent with biological and psychological determinants, is suggested.