The software enables the user to visualize fragmentary elements and reject or accept them, followed by initial alignment of fragmentary elements with a three-dimensional statistical template for each bone. After accepting the alignment of the elements, the software merges the elements, producing a fully reconstructed bone. Measurements can then be conducted by the user for application to regression equations, discriminate functions, or to use with software such as Fordisc 3.0. In developing and validating the software, 24,569 bone fragments from the Morton Shell Mound from the gulf coast of Louisiana were sorted; 18,373 fragments were coded; 1,232 fragments were digitized; and 2,061 fragments were CT scanned. The developed software was validated by using both simulated data and real data from the Morton collection. Software was compared to GIS; same fragment IDs were matched using both systems; and fragments were placed in comparable location on the template. The reconstruction results on simulated data were less than 2 mm mean RMS error for pelvis, skull, humerus, and femur. The developed system produced similar results when compared to GIS when looking at both the ID of matched fragments and location of matched fragments on the template. The developed application significantly improves forensic anthropologists' and crime-scene investigators' ability to reconstruct mass disasters, comingled mass graves, and highly fragmentary individual burials or surface scatters. 5 tables, 29 figures, 16 references, and appended software usage example
Downloads
Similar Publications
- Habeas Litigation in U.S. District Courts: An Empirical Study of Habeas Corpus Cases Filed by State Prisoners Under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, Final Technical Report
- Correction: Shelly Y. Shih; et al.; Applications of Probe Capture Enrichment Next Generation Sequencing for Whole Mitochondrial Genome and 426 Nuclear SNPs for Forensically Challenging Samples. Genes 2018, 9, 49
- Crime Talk: How Citizens Construct a Social Problem