165 research outputs found

    Computer‑aided craniofacial superimposition validation study: the identification of the leaders and participants of the Polish‑Lithuanian January Uprising (1863–1864)

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    In 2017, a series of human remains corresponding to the executed leaders of the “January Uprising” of 1863–1864 were uncovered at the Upper Castle of Vilnius (Lithuania). During the archeological excavations, 14 inhumation pits with the human remains of 21 individuals were found at the site. The subsequent identification process was carried out, including the analysis and cross-comparison of post-mortem data obtained in situ and in the lab with ante-mortem data obtained from historical archives. In parallel, three anthropologists with diverse backgrounds in craniofacial identification and two students without previous experience attempted to identify 11 of these 21 individuals using the craniofacial superimposition technique. To do this, the five participants had access to 18 3D scanned skulls and 14 photographs of 11 different candidates. The participants faced a cross-comparison problem involving 252 skull-face overlay scenarios. The methodology follows the main agreements of the European project MEPROCS and uses the software Skeleton-ID™. Based on MEPROCS standard, a final decision was provided within a scale, assigning a value in terms of strong, moderate, or limited support to the claim that the skull and the facial image belonged (or not) to the same person for each case. The problem of binary classification, positive/negative, with an identification rate for each participant was revealed. The results obtained in this study make the authors think that both the quality of the materials used and the previous experience of the analyst play a fundamental role when reaching conclusions using the CFS technique.CRUE-CSICSpanish Government Junta de Andalucia CONFIA 2021/C005/00141299 EXAISFI PID2021-122916NB-I00Centro de Investigacion de Galicia "CITIC" - Xunta de Galicia P18-FR-4262European Union (European Regional Development Fund-Galicia 2014-2020 Program)Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning, Republic of Korea ED431G 2019/01Universidade da Cor una/CISUG RYC2020-029454-

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

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    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

    The use of craniofacial superimposition for disaster victim identification

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    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

    Odontology & artificial intelligence

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    Neste trabalho avaliam-se os três fatores que fizeram da inteligência artificial uma tecnologia essencial hoje em dia, nomeadamente para a odontologia: o desempenho do computador, Big Data e avanços algorítmicos. Esta revisão da literatura avaliou todos os artigos publicados na PubMed até Abril de 2019 sobre inteligência artificial e odontologia. Ajudado com inteligência artificial, este artigo analisou 1511 artigos. Uma árvore de decisão (If/Then) foi executada para selecionar os artigos mais relevantes (217), e um algoritmo de cluster k-means para resumir e identificar oportunidades de inovação. O autor discute os artigos mais interessantes revistos e compara o que foi feito em inovação durante o International Dentistry Show, 2019 em Colónia. Concluiu, assim, de forma crítica que há uma lacuna entre tecnologia e aplicação clínica desta, sendo que a inteligência artificial fornecida pela indústria de hoje pode ser considerada um atraso para o clínico de amanhã, indicando-se um possível rumo para a aplicação clínica da inteligência artificial.There are three factors that have made artificial intelligence (AI) an essential technology today: the computer performance, Big Data and algorithmic advances. This study reviews the literature on AI and Odontology based on articles retrieved from PubMed. With the help of AI, this article analyses a large number of articles (a total of 1511). A decision tree (If/Then) was run to select the 217 most relevant articles-. Ak-means cluster algorithm was then used to summarize and identify innovation opportunities. The author discusses the most interesting articles on AI research and compares them to the innovation presented during the International Dentistry Show 2019 in Cologne. Three technologies available now are evaluated and three suggested options are been developed. The author concludes that AI provided by the industry today is a hold-up for the praticioner of tomorrow. The author gives his opinion on how to use AI for the profit of patients

    Virtual Anthropology: forensic applications to cranial skeletal remains from the Spanish Civil War

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    Biological and forensic anthropologists face limitations while studying skeletal remains altered by taphonomic alterations and perimortem trauma, such as in remains from the Spanish Civil War. However, virtual anthropology techniques can optimize the information inferred from fragmented and deformed remains by generating and restoring three-dimensional bone models. We applied a low-cost 3D modelling methodology based on photogrammetry to develop novel forensic applications of virtual 3D skull reconstruction, assembly, restoration and ancestry estimation. Crania and mandible fragments from five Spanish Civil War victims were reconstructed with high accuracy, and only one cranium could not be assembled due to extensive bone loss. Virtual mirroring successfully restored reconstructed crania, producing 3D models with reduced deformation and perimortem trauma. High correlation between traditional and virtual craniofacial measurements confirmed that 3D models are suitable for forensic applications. Craniometric databases of world-wide and Spanish populations were used to assess the potential of discriminant analysis to estimate population ancestry. Our protocol correctly estimated the continental origin of 86.7 % of 15 crania of known origin, and despite low morphological differentiation within European populations, correctly identified 54.5 % as Spanish and 27.3 % of them with high posterior probabilities. Two restored crania from the Civil War were estimated as Spanish, and one as a non-Spanish European. Results were not conclusive for one cranium and did not confirm previous archeological hypotheses. Overall, our research shows the potential to assess the presence of foreign volunteers in the Spanish Civil War and highlights the added value of 3D-virtual techniques in forensic anthropology

    A Late Pleistocene woman from Tham Lod, Thailand: The influence of today on a face from the past

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    Creating a facial appearance for individuals from the distant past is often highly problematic, even when verified methods are used. This is especially so in the case of non-European individuals, as the reference populations used to estimate the face tend to be heavily biased towards the average facial variation of recent people of European descent. To evaluate the problem, a facial approximation of a young woman from the Late Pleistocene rockshelter of Tham Lod in north-western Thailand was compared against the average facial variation of datasets from recent populations. The analysis indicated that the Tham Lod facial approximation was neither overtly recent in facial morphology, nor overtly European. The case is of particular interest as the Tham Lod individual probably belonged to a population ancestral to extant Australo-Melanesian peoples

    Assessing the accuracy of the zygoma for estimating ancestry using geometric morphometrics in a South African sample

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    The large number of unidentified, decomposed and skeletonised remains found in South Africa (SA) necessitates relevant and reliable methods to assist in victim identification. Ancestry estimation from unknown skeletal remains is essential when reconstructing a demographic profile of a missing person. In the SA population, estimating ancestry is problematic as standards developed internationally rarely apply to the local, biologically heterogenous population. Craniofacial morphology is known to be ancestrally distinct and studies are yet to explore shape and size variation in the zygomatic bone of the SA population. The aim of this study was to assess ancestral variation in zygomatic shape and size in a SA population using three-dimensional geometric morphometric analyses. A sample of 158 individuals were analysed from Bantu-speaking (BA), European (EA) and Mixed Ancestral (MA) South African groups. Males were larger in size than females, but no size differences were observed between ancestral groups. Significant shape differences were observed between ancestral groups, while none were observed between males and females. BA and MA individuals had narrower, shorter and more anteriorly projecting zygomas than EA individuals. The zygoma was shown to accurately distinguish EA (84%) from BA (81%), and MA (80%) from EA (68%) individuals, but unreliably distinguished BA (60%) from MA (66%) individuals. This is likely correlated to the historical peopling of SA and historical forced racial classification. Age-related changes and antemortem tooth loss did not confound the ancestral variation in size, despite minor changes in zygomatic shape being associated with these two factors. These confounders did not impact ancestry estimation accuracies, further suggesting a minor impact on overall zygomatic shape. Furthermore, the patterning of ancestral variation in the zygoma revealed the need for further research to distinguish between the biologically heterogenous ancestral groups in SA

    Computer Aided 3d Skull - 2d Photo Superimposition For Forensic Anthropology

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    Pengenalpastian manusia melalui Craniofacial Superimposition (CS) atau Penindihan Kraniofasial adalah salah satu penyelidikan yang utama dalam sains forensik. Secara asasnya, CS adalah satu teknik pengimbasan forensik yang digunakan untuk mengenal pasti identiti tengkorak yang tidak diketahui melalui pemadanan dengan gambar foto individu-individu yang dilaporkan hilang Identification of humans via Craniofacial Superimposition (CS) is one of the prominent research areas in forensic science. Basically, CS is a forensic imaging technique used to identify an unknown skull by matching it with the available face photographs of missing individual
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