Extended CT scale overcomes restoration caused streak artifacts for dental identification in CT--3D color encoded automatic discrimination of dental restorations

OBJECTIVE: Besides DNA, dental radiographs play a major role in the identification of victims in mass casualties or in corpses with major postmortem alterations. Computed tomography (CT) is increasingly applied in forensic investigations and is used to scan the dentition of deceased persons within minutes. We investigated different restoration materials concerning their radiopacity in CT for dental identification purposes. METHODS: Extracted teeth with different filling materials (composite, amalgam, ceramic, temporary fillings) were CT scanned. Radiopacities of the filling materials were analyzed in extended CT scale images. RESULTS: Radiopacity values ranged from 6000-8500HU (temporary fillings), 4500-17000HU (composite fillings) and >30710HU (Amalgam and Gold). The values were used to define presets for a 3D colored volume rendering software. CONCLUSIONS: The effects of filling material caused streak artifacts could be distinctively reduced for the assessment of the dental status and a postprocessing algorithm was introduced that allows for 3D color encoded visualization and discrimination of different dental restorations based on postmortem CT data.

Maximum intensity projection of cranial computed tomography data for dental identification

Dental radiographs play the major role in the identification of victims in mass casualties besides DNA. Under circumstances such as those caused by the recent tsunami in Asia, it is nearly impossible to document the entire dentition using conventional x-rays as it would be too time consuming. Multislice computed tomography can be used to scan the dentition of a deceased within minutes, and the postprocessing software allows visualization of the data adapted to every possible antemortem x-ray for identification. We introduce the maximum intensity projection of cranial computed tomography data for the purpose of dental identification exemplarily in a case of a burned corpse. As transportable CT scanners already exist, these could be used to support the disaster victim identification teams in the field.

Use of multislice computed tomography in disaster victim identification--advantages and limitations

After a mass fatality incident (MFI), all victims have to be rapidly and accurately identified for juridical reasons as well as for the relatives' sake. Since MFIs are often international in scope, Interpol has proposed standard disaster victim identification (DVI) procedures, which have been widely adopted by authorities and forensic experts. This study investigates how postmortem multislice computed tomography (MSCT) can contribute to the DVI process as proposed by Interpol. The Interpol postmortem (PM) form has been analyzed, and a number of items in sections D and E thereof have been postulated to be suitable for documentation by CT data. CT scans have then been performed on forensic cases. Interpretation of the reconstructed images showed that indeed much of the postmortem information required for identification can be gathered from CT data. Further advantages of the proposed approach concern the observer independent documentation, the possibility to reconstruct a variety of images a long time after the event, the possibility to distribute the work by transmitting CT data digitally, and the reduction of time and specialists needed at the disaster site. We conclude that MSCT may be used as a valuable screening tool in DVI in the future.

Attributions of Responsibility for Terrorist Attacks: The Role of Group Membership and Identification

Three studies examine how people’s attributions of responsibility for terrorist attacks depend on their group membership and their identification with the victim (study 1) or their identification with the victim’s or perpetrator’s ingroup (studies 2 and 3). We observe that people’s group membership (perpetrator group versus victim group) determines the judgments of responsibility for recent terrorist attacks. Members of the perpetrator group hold the direct perpetrators responsible, while members of the victim group perceive the perpetrator world as a whole as relatively responsible as well. Identification with the victim (study 1) or victim group (studies 2 and 3) strengthens attributions of responsibility to the whole perpetrator group, and this relationship is partially mediated by the perceived typicality of the perpetrator for the whole group. We discuss possible explanations for this pattern, and indicate the implications of these results in terms of improving intergroup relations.

The identification of child abuse in Harris County in 1998

Characteristics of child abuse cases are not well known. In this study I collected data on 70 child abuse cases that were reported to Children's Protective Services in Harris County in 1998. The purpose of this study was to determine the factors in Harris County that lead to the identification of physical and sexual abuse. In order to answer the questions of who, what, where and when relative to the discovery of abuse I applied the same questionnaire (see Appendix) to each of 35 Sexual Abuse case reports and to each of 35 Physical Abuse/Neglect case reports. Answers to the first four questions were arranged by frequency distribution to show the predominant reporter, the 10 most common indicators, the most common locale, and the most frequent timing. Tables of the age, sex, and ethnicity of the children indicate the identity of those whose victimization was most reported. In addition the relationship between the form questions and the characteristics of the children was explored. A comparison of Sexual Abuse cases with Physical Abuse/Neglect cases was conducted and the results were analyzed and recorded in the Tables. ^ Child maltreatment often has negative short and long term effects on children's mental health and development. Suicide, violence, delinquency, drug and alcohol abuse and other forms of criminality are frequently child abuse related. Early detection and treatment helps to alleviate the myriad mental and physical ailments that untreated victims present as adults. This translates into medical dollar savings. ^ The long term objectives of my research were to reduce the number of undetected and unreported child abuse cases in Harris County by formulating better educational programs and literature for medical professionals and other personnel who are in contact with children. ^

Intergroup processes in intragroup contexts: The roles of group status, group identification and communication in diverse work teams

The present research examines employee identification and communication in organisations. In Study 1, 2229 soldiers from a military organisation completed measures of perceived status and strength of identification with their unit, employment category and their brigade. As predicted, the status of a key organisational group influenced reactions to different organisational groups: full-time soldiers evaluated their work unit and the organisation as being lower in status and identified less strongly with both of these groups than part-time soldiers. The second study extended these findings to a different research context: a large psychiatric hospital undergoing downsizing and restructuring. Surprisingly, there were no differences in survivors' and victims' levels of identification with organisational groups. Instead, and consistent with Study 1, there was evidence to suggest that employees adjusted their patterns of identification and perceptions of group status through a compensatory mechanism that maximised opportunities for selfenhancement and positive distinctiveness. In the third study, employees from a public hospital (N = 142) rated communication from double ingroup members (same work unit/same occupational group) more favourably than communication from partial group members (same work unit/different occupational group). These results are considered in terms of their practical implications for identity management in organisations.

Voices of nigerian women survivors of trafficking held in italian centres for identification and expulsion

Department of Equal Opportunities; Presidency of the Council of Ministries; Province of Rome (metropolitan area)

The role of forensic dentistry for identification of a criminal sexual assault: a casework report

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Texture for Script identification

The problem of determining the script and language of a document image has a number of important applications in the field of document analysis, such as indexing and sorting of large collections of such images, or as a precursor to optical character recognition (OCR). In this paper, we investigate the use of texture as a tool for determining the script of a document image, based on the observation that text has a distinct visual texture. An experimental evaluation of a number of commonly used texture features is conducted on a newly created script database, providing a qualitative measure of which features are most appropriate for this task. Strategies for improving classification results in situations with limited training data and multiple font types are also proposed.