Hierarchical information fusion for decision making in craniofacial superimposition

Craniofacial superimposition is one of the most important skeleton-based identification methods. The process studies the possible correspondence between a found skull and a candidate (missing person) through the superimposition of the former over a variable number of images of the face of the latter. Within craniofacial superimposition we identified three different stages, namely: (1) image acquisition-processing and landmark location; (2) skull-face overlay; and (3) decision making. While we have already proposed and validated an automatic skull-face overlay technique in previous works, the final identification stage, decision making, is still performed manually by the expert. This consists of the determination of the degree of support for the assertion that the skull and the ante-mortem image belong to the same person. This decision is made through the analysis of several criteria assessing the skull-face anatomical correspondence based on the resulting skull-face overlay. In this contribution, we present a hierarchical framework for information fusion to support the anthropologist expert in the decision making stage. The main goal is the automation of this stage based on the use of several skull-face anatomical criteria combined at different levels by means of fuzzy aggregation functions. We have implemented two different experiments for our framework. The first aims to obtain the most suitable aggregation functions for the system and the second validates the proposed framework as an identification system. We tested the framework with a dataset of 33 positive and 411 negative identification instances. The present proposal is the first automatic craniofacial superimposition decision support system evaluated in an objective and statistically meaningful way. © 2017 Elsevier B.V

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

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-