The use of craniofacial superimposition for disaster victim identification

Skull-to-face comparison is utilised for human identification where there is a suspected identity and the usual methods of identification, such as DNA or dental comparison, are not possible or practical. This research aimed to compare the reliability of manual and computerised craniofacial superimposition techniques and to establish the application of these techniques for disaster victim identification, where there may be a large database of passport-style images, such as the MPUB Interpol database. Twenty skulls (10 females; 10 males) were utilised from the William Bass Skeletal Collection at the University of Tennessee and compared to face pools of 20 face photographs of similar sex, age and ethnic group. A traditional manual photographic method and a new 3D computer-based method were used. The results suggested that profile and three-quarter views of the ante-mortem face were the most valuable for craniofacial superimposition. However, the poor identification rate achieved using images in frontal view suggests that the MPUB Interpol database would not be optimal for disaster victim identification, and passport-style images do not provide enough distinguishing facial detail. This suggests that multiple ante-mortem images with a variety of facial expression should be utilised for identification purposes. There was no significant difference in success between the manual and computer methods

A Survey on Artificial Intelligence Techniques for Biomedical Image Analysis in Skeleton-Based Forensic Human Identification

This paper represents the first survey on the application of AI techniques for the analysis of biomedical images with forensic human identification purposes. Human identification is of great relevance in today’s society and, in particular, in medico-legal contexts. As consequence, all technological advances that are introduced in this field can contribute to the increasing necessity for accurate and robust tools that allow for establishing and verifying human identity. We first describe the importance and applicability of forensic anthropology in many identification scenarios. Later, we present the main trends related to the application of computer vision, machine learning and soft computing techniques to the estimation of the biological profile, the identification through comparative radiography and craniofacial superimposition, traumatism and pathology analysis, as well as facial reconstruction. The potentialities and limitations of the employed approaches are described, and we conclude with a discussion about methodological issues and future research.Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and UniversitiesEuropean Union (EU) PGC2018-101216-B-I00Regional Government of Andalusia under grant EXAISFI P18-FR-4262Instituto de Salud Carlos IIIEuropean Union (EU) DTS18/00136European Commission H2020-MSCA-IF-2016 through the Skeleton-ID Marie Curie Individual Fellowship 746592Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities-CDTI, Neotec program 2019 EXP-00122609/SNEO-20191236European Union (EU)Xunta de Galicia ED431G 2019/01European Union (EU) RTI2018-095894-B-I0

Definition of topographic organization of skull profile In normal population and its implication on the role of sutures in skull morphology

ObjectivesThe geometric configuration of skull is complex and unique to each individual. The main objectives of this study are two fold: 1) to provide a new technique to define the outline of skull profile and 2) to find the common factors defining the ultimate skull configuration in adult population. The secondary objective was to explore the effect of age and sex on skull shape formation.Materials & Methods Ninety-three lateral skull x-ray from the CT scan films were selected and digitized. The lateral skull surface was divided into 3 regions based on the presumed location of coronal and lambdoid sutures. A software program (Canvas 7) was used to match the outer surface of lateral skull with circular curves. Three main curvatures (frontal, parietal, occipital) were consistently identified to overlap the skull periphery. The radius, cord length and inclination of each curvature were measured.. Factor analysis technique was also used to reduce the number of variables explaining the overall shape of skull. Student t-test and regression analysis was also used to explore the effect of sex and age on skull shape. Results There were total of 93 patients in this study (54% male). The average values for three defined curvatures of the skull profile were recorded. Factor analysis produced 3 factors. The first factor explained 32% of total variance and was related to the overall size of the head as represented by total length and the radius of the curvature in vertex and back of the head. The second factor covered 26% of the variance representing the inverse correlation between the angle of the frontal and parietal curves. The third factor revealed the direct correlation of occipital and parietal angle. In all of these factors, the frontal zone variation was independent or opposite of the parieto-occipital zone. A strong direct association between the total length of skull, occipital curve radius and length with the sex was shown. No age related variable was identified.Conclusions There is a large variation in the values of different part of the skull. The skull profile topography can be defined mathematically by two distinct territories: frontal and parieto-occipital zones. These territories hinge on the coronal suture. Therefore, coronal suture may play a dominant role in final skull configuration

Modeling skull-face anatomical/morphological correspondence for craniofacial superimposition-based identification

Craniofacial superimposition (CFS) is a forensic identification technique which studies the anatomical and morphological correspondence between a skull and a face. It involves the process of overlaying a variable number of facial images with the skull. This technique has great potential since nowadays the wide majority of the people have photographs where their faces are clearly visible. In addition, the skull is a bone that hardly degrades under the effect of fire, humidity, temperature changes, etc. Three consecutive stages for the CFS process have been distinguished: the acquisition and processing of the materials; the skull-face overlay; and the decision making. This final stage consists of determining the degree of support for a match based on the previous overlays. The final decision is guided by different criteria depending on the anatomical relations between the skull and the face. In previous approaches, we proposed a framework for automating this stage at different levels taking into consideration all the information and uncertainty sources involved. In this study, we model new anatomical skull-face regions and we tackle the last level of the hierarchical decision support system. For the first time, we present a complete system which provides a final degree of craniofacial correspondence. Furthermore, we validate our system as an automatic identification tool analyzing its capabilities in closed (known information or a potential list of those involved) and open lists (little or no idea at first who may be involved) and comparing its performance with the manual results achieved by experts, obtaining a remarkable performance. The proposed system has been demonstrated to be valid for sortlisting a given data set of initial candidates (in 62,5% of the cases the positive one is ranked in the first position) and to serve as an exclusion method (97,4% and 96% of true negatives in training and test, respectively)

Cephalometric landmark detection: Artificial intelligence vs human examination

Magister Scientiae Dentium - MSc(Dent)Cephalometric landmark detection is important for accurate diagnosis and treatment planning. The most common cause of random errors, in both computer-aided cephalometry and manual cephalometric analysis, is inconsistency in landmark detection. These methods are time-consuming. As a result, attempts have been made to automate cephalometric analysis, to improve the accuracy and precision of landmark detection whilst also minimizing errors caused by clinician subjectivity.This mini-thesis aimed to determine the precision of two cephalometric landmark identification methods, namely an artificial intelligence programme (BoneFinder®) and a computer-assisted examination software (Dolphin ImagingTM)

Computer-aided cephalometric landmark identification

Master'sMASTER OF ENGINEERIN

An Investigation of Heredity in the Aetiology and Pathogenesis of Cleft Palate and of Cleft Lip and Palate

Cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CL(P)) and isolated cleft palate (CP) are caused by primary defects in the fusion of craniofacial processes that form the primary and secondary palate respectively. CL(P) and CP are considered to be separate diagnostic entities and for both multifactorial inheritance has been proposed, although the precise roles played by genes, environment and chance are unclear; and in particular the nature and number of genes involved is not known. The aim of this study was to try to identify parental characteristics (genotypic or phenotypic) which were associated with an increased risk of having a child with CL(P) or CP. The combination of phenotypic and genotypic data can improve the ability to predict parental predisposition towards CP or CL(P) beyond the predictive ability of either cephalometric or genetic data in isolation. The lack of correlation between these genotypes and the cephalometric parameters would suggest that other genetic loci are involved in the predisposition to CL(P) and CP and further analysis of other candidate genes using this approach would merit consideration. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)

The establishment of soft tissue thicknesses and profiles for reconstruction of the adult male Zulu face

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Dentistry, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. 1993Three-dimensional forensic facial reconstruction involves the building up in clay of the soft tissues of the human face onto an unidentified skull to suggest the identity of its owner. Early researchers physically punctured the facial tissues of cadavers at known anthropological to measure their depth. Later workers used radiography, ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging for collecting both depth and surface data on the head and face.GR 201