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Forensic Science

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Displaying 151 - 175 of 540

A Metrology Foundation for 3D Ballistic Imaging - NIJ Final Technical Report

September 1, 2021
Author(s)
Michael Stocker, Johannes Soons, Thomas Renegar, Xiaoyu Zheng, Robert Thompson
Forensic laboratories considering optical 3D surface topography measurement for objective comparison and VCM face challenges with respect to cost, training, and quality assurance. The primary aim of this research was to address quality assurance issues

Assessing the Microscale Heterogeneity in Candidate Standard Reference Material 4600: Surrogate Post-detonation Urban Debris

August 18, 2021
Author(s)
Jacqueline L. Mann, John L. Molloy, Mark Tyra, Kevin Pfeuffer, Barbara Fallon, JoAnn Buscaglia
Nondestructive microbeam X-ray fluorescence (µXRF) spectrometry has been used to investigate the elemental microheterogeneity in a candidate nuclear forensics reference material (RM), NIST SRM 4600: Surrogate Post-detonation Urban Debris. Using a principal

Statistics of Visual Features in the Human Iris

August 16, 2021
Author(s)
George W. Quinn, James Matey, Patrick J. Grother, Edward Watters
In most current applications of iris recognition, matching is done by computer algorithms. The dominant algorithms are based on the work of John Daugman and are well understood because of the extensive analysis in the literature of iris2pi (the shorthand

Dataset construction challenges for digital forensics

July 29, 2021
Author(s)
James R. Lyle, Graeme Horsman
As the digital forensic field develops, taking steps towards ensuring a level of reliability in the processes implemented by its practitioners, emphasis on the need for effective testing has increased. In order to test, test datasets are required, but

Cannabis Quality Assurance Program: Exercise 1 Final Report

July 27, 2021
Author(s)
MARYAM ABDUL-RAHMAN, Melissa M. Phillips, Walter Brent Wilson
NIST launched a CannaQAP in 2020 to improve the comparability of the analytical measurements in forensic and Cannabis (hemp and marijuana) testing laboratories. CannaQAP is an interlaboratory study mechanism that is similar to a proficiency testing scheme

MS_Piano: A Software Tool for Annotating Peaks in CID Tandem Mass Spectra of Peptides and N-Glycopeptides

July 15, 2021
Author(s)
Xiaoyu (Sara) Yang, Pedatsur Neta, Yuri Mirokhin, Dmitrii V. Tchekhovskoi, Concepcion Remoroza, Meghan Burke Harris, Yuxue Liang, Sanford Markey, Stephen E. Stein
Annotating product ion peaks in tandem mass spectra is essential for evaluating spectral quality and validating peptide identification. This task is more complex for glycopeptides and is crucial for the confident determination of glycosylation sites in

User Guide for NIST Media Forensic Challenge (MFC) Datasets

July 6, 2021
Author(s)
Haiying Guan, Andrew Delgado, Yooyoung Lee, Amy Yates, Daniel Zhou, Timothee N. Kheyrkhah, Jonathan G. Fiscus
NIST released a set of Media Forensic Challenge (MFC) datasets developed in DARPA MediFor (Media Forensics) project to the public in the past 5 years. More than 300 individuals, 150 organizations, from 26 countries and regions worldwide use our datasets

Creation and Release of an Updated NIST DART-MS Forensics Database

June 17, 2021
Author(s)
Edward Sisco, Arun Moorthy, Laura M. Watt
Facing increasing caseloads and an everchanging drug landscape, forensic laboratories have been implementing new analytical tools. Direct analysis in real time mass spectrometry (DART-MS) is often one of these tools because it provides a wealth of

Forensic Applications of DART-MS: A Review of Recent Literature

June 17, 2021
Author(s)
Edward Sisco, Thomas Forbes
The need for rapid chemical analyses and new analytical tools in forensic laboratories continues to grow due to case backlogs, difficult to analyze cases, and identification of previously unseen materials such as new psychoactive substances. To adapt to

The use of lateral flow immunoassays for the detection of fentanyl in seized drug samples and postmortem urine

June 17, 2021
Author(s)
Daniel J. Angelini, Tracey Biggs, Amber M. Prugh, Jessica A. Smith, Jennifer A. Hanburger, Bob Llano, Raquel Avelar, Angela Ellis, Brady Lusk, Abdallah Naanaa, Edward Sisco, Jennifer W. Sekowski
The opioid crisis has continued to progress in the United States and the rest of the world. As this crisis continues, there is a pressing need for a rapid and cost-effective method for detecting fentanyl. Recent studies have suggested that lateral flow

Forensic Handwriting Examination and Human Factors: Improving the Practice Through a Systems Approach

June 1, 2021
Author(s)
Melissa Taylor, Brett Bishop, Ted Burkes, Michael Caligiuri, Bryan Found, Carolyne Bird, Wesley Grose, Lauren Logan, Kenneth Melson, Mara Merlino, Larry Miller, Linton Mohammed, Jonathan Morris, John Paul Osborn, Nikola Osborne, Brent Ostrum, Christopher Saunders, Scott Shappell, H. David Sheets, Sargur Srihari, Reinoud Stoel, Thomas Vastrick, Heather Waltke, Emily Will
For some 6,000 years, humans have made an indelible mark on history through the loops, strokes, and other characters that constitute the written form of language - handwriting. The study of handwriting is also an important part of forensic science. By

Environmental Source Tracking of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances within a Forensic Context: Current and Future Techniques

May 13, 2021
Author(s)
Alix Rodowa, Joseph A. Charbonnet, Jennifer L. Guelfo, Jennifer A. Field, Gerrad D. Jones, Christopher P. Higgins, Damian E. Helbling, Erika F. Houtz
The source tracking of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) is a new and increasingly important field within environmental forensics. We define PFAS source tracking as the accurate characterization and differentiation of multiple sources

Iris Recognition on Noah Kalina's Everyday

April 26, 2021
Author(s)
James Matey
In January 2000, Noah Kalina began taking a photograph of himself every day – and has continued for more than 20 years. A time-lapse video of his images can be seen online: EveryDay. These images, and images from similar projects, provide us with

Sequence-based U.S. population data for 7 X STR loci

April 26, 2021
Author(s)
Lisa Borsuk, Carolyn R. Steffen, Kevin M. Kiesler, Peter Vallone, Katherine Gettings
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) U.S. population sample set of unrelated individuals was used to determine allele and haplotype frequencies for seven X-chromosome short tandem repeat (STR) loci in four linkage groups. DXS7132

Best practices in the collection and use of biometric and forensic datasets

March 24, 2021
Author(s)
Melissa Taylor, Austin Hicklin, George Kiebuzinski
This document discusses issues that arise in the collection, dissemination, and use of datasets for use in biometric and forensic science research, and provides recommendations on how to best address the issues raised. A variety of factors should be

National Institute of Standards and Technology Environmental Scan 2020

February 9, 2021
Author(s)
Heather Evans, Kristen K. Greene, William M. Healy, Elizabeth Hoffman, Kate Rimmer, Anna V. Sberegaeva, Neil M. Zimmerman
The 2020 National Institute of Standards and Technology Environmental Scan provides an analysis of key external factors that could impact NIST and the fulfillment of its mission in coming years. The analyses were conducted through four separate lenses
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