OSAC Lexicon

Credit: Academy Standards Board

The vertical strokes of letters, such as "B", "T", and "P", that have a main stroke connecting to the baseline.

A location separate from the search site designated for canine handlers to wait until they are called to search.

An area designated to contain and deploy resources and conduct briefings, situated outside the boundaries of where evidence is likely to be located.

A person or organization that can affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision or activity.

A hand-marking device capable of making an inked impression using a variety of die materials that include, but are not limited to, vulcanized rubber, laserable rubber, photopolymer, gel, and metal. Synonyms: hand stamp, self-inking stamp, pre-inked stamp, flat-die, cachet. (ANSI/ASB Std 117)

An NFPA Standard, the main text of which contains only mandatory provisions using the word 'shall' to indicate requirements and that is in a form generally suitable for mandatory reference by another standard or code or for adoption into law. Nonmandatory provisions are not to be considered a part of the requirements of a standard and shall be located in an appendix, annex, footnote, informational note, or other means as permitted in the NFPA Manual of Style. When used in a generic sense, such as in the phrase 'standards development process' or 'standards development activities,' the term 'standards' includes all NFPA Standards, including Codes, Standards, Recommended Practices, and Guides.

An NFPA Standard, the main text of which contains only mandatory provisions using the word 'shall' to indicate requirements and that is in a form generally suitable for mandatory reference by another standard or code or for adoption into law. Nonmandatory provisions are not to be considered a part of the requirements of a standard and shall be located in an appendix, annex, footnote, informational note, or other means as permitted in the NFPA Manuals of Style. When used in a generic sense, such as in the phrase 'standards development process' or 'standards development activities,' the term 'standards' includes all NFPA Standards, including Codes, Standards, Recommended Practices, and Guides.

An established or widely recognized model of authority or excellence as a reference point against which other things can be evaluated or the ideal in terms of which something can be judged.

(See collected writing, reference collection.)

Investigator's tools and equipment that every investigator must carry.

Written documentation maintained by the laboratory including laboratory policies, technical protocols and methods for specific forensic analyses (see also technical procedure).

Written analytical procedure that describes how to perform certain organization activities

defined test procedure published by national or international standards development organizations that is used unmodified to generate test results 

NOTE Examples of standard test methods include, but are not limited to, identification, measurement, and evaluation of one or more qualities, characteristics, or properties. Standard test methods include precision and bias statements

A largely unconscious defensive response in a canine to sudden or threatening stimuli or perceived stimuli.

The power of a statistical test of a null hypothesis is the probability that it will lead to the rejection of the null hypothesis.

The probability of obtaining the observed resultor a more exaggerated oneif the null hypothesis of no effect was true.

A quantitative statement that provides a measure of support for the comparison performed (e.g., random match probability, likelihood ratio).

A Category 2 scoring function.

In typography, vertical or full-length angled strokes. Where there is a difference in the stroke thicknesses in printed characters with more than one stroke connecting to the baseline, the primary stem is thicker, and the secondary stem is thinner. 

Credit: Academy Standards Board

The act of producing a snoring sound [1].

A friction ridge image created by combining images that were separately captured.

1) Chance, or random variation 2) in DNA testing, refers to random sampling error from extracts containing low levels of DNA and/or random variation in selection of alleles amplified at a particular locus.

Describes 1) chance, or random variation 2) in DNA testing, refers to random sampling error from extracts containing low levels of DNA and/or random variation in selection of alleles amplified at a particular locus.

Changes in a DNA profile that generally occur when suboptimal or limiting quantities of DNA are tested.

NOTE This may be due to sampling variation (e.g., pipetting) of the target DNA that goes into the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and/or random events between primers and target DNA during PCR amplification. The effects may be observed at one or more loci, and include: 1) peak height imbalance of sister alleles in a heterozygous pair; 2) loss of data (referred to as “allele drop out” when one or more alleles are missing at a locus and “locus drop out” when all alleles are missing from a locus); 3) allele drop-in [allelic peak(s) in an electropherogram that are not reproducible]; and 4) elevated stutter peaks (a non-allelic peak in the stutter position exceeding the stutter expectation of the laboratory).

Changes in a DNA profile that generally occur when suboptimal or limiting quantities of DNA are tested. This may be due to sampling variation (e.g., pipetting) of the target DNA that goes into the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and/or random events between primers and target DNA during PCR amplification. The effects may be observed at one or more loci, and include: 1) peak height imbalance of sister alleles in a heterozygous pair; 2) loss of data (referred to as 'allele drop out' when one or more alleles are missing at a locus and 'locus drop out' when all alleles are missing from a locus); 3) allele drop-in [allelic peak(s) in an electropherogram that are not reproducible]; and 4) elevated stutter peaks (a non-allelic peak in the stutter position exceeding the stutter expectation of the laboratory).

Changes in a DNA profile that generally occur when suboptimal or limiting quantities of DNA are tested. This may be due to sampling variation (e.g., pipetting) of the target DNA that goes into the ANSI/ASB Standard 020, 1st Ed. 2018 2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and/or random events between primers and target DNA during PCR amplification. The effects may be observed at one or more loci, and include: 1) peak height imbalance of sister alleles in a heterozygous pair; 2) loss of data (referred to as 'allele drop out' when one or more alleles are missing at a locus and 'locus drop out' when all alleles are missing from a locus); 3) allele drop-in (allelic peak(s) in an electropherogram that are not reproducible); and 4) elevated stutter peaks

Changes in a DNA profile that generally occur when suboptimal or limiting quantities of DNA are tested. This may be due to sampling variation (e.g., pipetting) of the target DNA that goes into the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and/or random events between primers and target DNA during PCR amplification. The effects may be observed at one or more loci, and include: 1) peak height imbalance of sister alleles in a heterozygous pair; 2) loss of data (referred to as “allele drop out” when one or more alleles are missing at a locus and “locus drop out” when all alleles are missing from a locus); 3) allele drop-in [allelic peak(s) in an electropherogram that are not reproducible]; and 4) elevated stutter peaks (a non-allelic peak in the stutter position exceeding the stutter expectation of the laboratory).

An alternative to traditional halftone dots, this random-placement dot strategy uses frequency modulation (FM) to render enlarged images on large format printing devices. Unlike halftone, the dots are of a uniform size with darker areas having more dots packed closer together.

The peak height value in a DNA electrophoretic profile above which it is reasonable to assume that, at a given locus, allelic drop out of a sister allele in a heterozygous pair has not occurred in a single source DNA sample; due to the possibility of shared alleles in mixed samples, the presence of allele peaks above the stochastic threshold is no guarantee that allele drop out did not occur in mixed DNA sample profiles.

Short sequences of DNA that are repeated numerous times in direct succession. The numberof repeated units may vary widely between individuals and this high level of variationmakes STRs particularly useful for discriminating between people. The person to whom the data in the record applies. The subject of the record need notbe the subject of the transaction.

The relative support or extent to which the evidence supports one proposition over another. It may be described verbally or numerically.

A harsh vibrating sound heard during respiration in cases of obstruction of the air passages.