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Forensic Science

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Displaying 26 - 50 of 525

Wound Causing Agents in the Illicit Drug Supply: Evidence from a Statewide Drug Checking Program

December 5, 2024
Author(s)
Emily Martin, Kristin Schneider, Edward Sisco, Meghan Appley, Margaret Rybak, Rae Elkasabany, Susan Sherman
Objectives To examine the prevalence of wound causing agents (xylazine, levamisole, medetomidine) in Maryland's illicit drug supply and co-occurrence with other substances. Methods Using data from Maryland's statewide drug checking program, Rapid Analysis

Results of the 2023 Rapid DNA Multi-Laboratory Study - I-Chip

December 4, 2024
Author(s)
Erica Romsos, Lilliana Moreno, Douglas Hares
Identical sensitivity and mixture sample sets were provided to six external laboratories to evaluate the recent enhancements to the Rapid DNA technology for crime scene-type samples. Data were returned to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the

Drug Detection, Analysis, and Monitoring Workshop Report

August 30, 2024
Author(s)
Edward Sisco
This report is a summary of a workshop convened to capture the analytical and data challenges inherent to the detection, identification, and monitoring of illicit drugs in the United States – specifically highlighting current practices, challenges, and

NIST Cloud Computing Forensic Reference Architecture

July 30, 2024
Author(s)
Martin Herman, Michaela Iorga, Ahsen Michael Salim, Robert H. Jackson, Mark R. Hurst, Ross A. Leo, Anand Kumar Mishra, Nancy M. Landreville, Yien Wang
This document summarizes the research performed by the NIST Cloud Computing Forensic Science Working Group and presents the NIST Cloud Computing Forensic Reference Architecture (CC FRA or FRA), whose goal is to provide support for a cloud system's forensic

Similarity Measures of Mass Spectra in Hilbert Spaces

July 29, 2024
Author(s)
Anthony J. Kearsley, Matthew Roberts
Mass spectrometry (MS) is an analytic tool for measuring mass-to-charge ratios of molecules or molecular fragments. It is often used to identify and classify compounds. A mass spectrometer measures the mass of molecules and produces a signal proportional

Cannabinoids detected in exhaled breath condensate after cannabis use

July 23, 2024
Author(s)
Jennifer Berry, Ashley Brooks-Russell, Cheryle Beuning, Sarah Limbacher, Tara Lovestead, Kavita Jeerage
Cannabinoids can be detected in breath after cannabis use, but different breath matrices need to be explored as studies to date with filter-based devices that collect breath aerosols have not demonstrated that breath-based measurements can reliably

Characterization of Reference Material 8210: Hemp Plant

June 20, 2024
Author(s)
Colleen E. Bryan Sallee, Walter Brent Wilson, Charles Barber, Monique Johnson, Jenna Klingsick, Jerome Mulloor, Blaza Toman, Elena Wood, Laura Wood, Andrea Yarberry
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Reference Material (RM) 8210 Hemp Plant delivers non certified values for cannabinoids and toxic elements in a dried ground hemp plant material to help cannabis and forensic laboratories for use as

A collaborative study on the precision of the Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms used for DNA profile interpretation

June 19, 2024
Author(s)
Sarah Riman, Jo-Anne Bright, Kaitlin Huffman, Lilliana Moreno, Sicen Liu, Asmitha Sathya, Peter Vallone
Several fully continuous probabilistic genotyping software (PGS) use Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms (MCMC) to assign weights to different proposed genotype combinations at a locus. Replicate interpretations of the same profile in these software are

Inconclusive Decisions and Error Rates in Forensic Science

May 4, 2024
Author(s)
Henry Swofford, Steven Lund, Hariharan Iyer, John Butler, Johannes Soons, Robert Thompson, Vincent Desiderio, JP Jones, Robert Ramotowski
Conference Presentation based on technical paper in ERB (Control Number: N2024-0457).

Inconclusive Decisions and Error Rates in Forensic Science

May 4, 2024
Author(s)
Henry Swofford, Steven Lund, Hariharan K. Iyer, John Butler, Johannes A. Soons, Robert M. Thompson, Vincent Desiderio, JP Jones, Robert Ramotowski
In recent years, there has been discussion and controversy relating to the treatment of inconclusive decisions in forensic feature comparison disciplines when considering the reliability of examination methods and results. In this article, we offer a brief

Ultrasensitive sequencing of STR markers utilizing unique molecular identifiers and the SiMSen-Seq method

April 3, 2024
Author(s)
Maja Sidstedt, Arvid Gynna, Kevin Kiesler, Linda Jansson, Becky Steffen, Joakim Hakansson, Gustav Johansson, Yalda Bogestal, Andreas Tillmar, Peter Radstrom, Anders Stahlberg, Peter Vallone, Johannes Hedman
Massively parallel sequencing (MPS) is increasingly applied in forensic short tandem repeat (STR) analysis. The presence of stutter artefacts and other PCR or sequencing errors in the MPS-STR data partly limits the detection of low DNA amounts, e.g., in

National Institute on Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network Meeting Report: Managing Patients Exposed to Xylazine-Adulterated Opioids in Emergency, Hospital and Addiction Care Settings

March 16, 2024
Author(s)
Jeanmarie Perrone, Rachel Haroz, Joseph D'Orazio, Giacomo Gianotti, Jennifer Love, Matthew Salzman, Margaret Lowenstein, Ashish Thakar, Stephanie Klipp, Lisa Rae, Megan Reed, Edward Sisco, Rachel Wightman, Lewis Nelson
Used as a veterinary sedative and not approved for human use, xylazine has been increasingly linked with opioid overdose deaths in the United States. A growing number of people have been exposed to xylazine in the illicit opioid supply (especially fentanyl

Forensic Science Environmental Scan 2023

March 7, 2024
Author(s)
Henry Swofford
This environmental scan provides a broad view of the forensic science environment (as of 2023) and characterizes high-level historical and current issues and trends that might impact near and long-term decisions by forensic science research and standards

Chemical Foundations for a Cannabis Breathalyzer (Final Research Report)

March 1, 2024
Author(s)
Tara Lovestead, Jason A. Widegren, Kavita Jeerage
Our ultimate goal is to support the reliable identification of recent cannabis use by developing an infrastructure for evaluation, calibration, and quality control of cannabis breathalyzers akin to that which exists for alcohol breathalyzers. The primary
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