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Forensic Science

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Displaying 176 - 200 of 525

Decade(s) of Development in Forensic Science

July 15, 2020
Author(s)
John Butler
On November 12, 2019, at a special anniversary conference entitled "Forensic Science: A Decade of Developments" held at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), I provided an overview of developments across the forensic science

NIST Media Forensic Challenge (MFC) Evaluation 2020 - 4th Year DARPA MediFor PI meeting

July 15, 2020
Author(s)
Jonathan G. Fiscus, Haiying Guan, Yooyoung Lee, Amy Yates, Andrew Delgado, Daniel F. Zhou, Timothee N. Kheyrkhah, Xiongnan Jin
The presentation slides summarize NIST Media Forensic Challenge (MFC) Evaluation, and present MFC20 evaluation reports in DARPA MediFor PI meeting. The slides contains five parts: Overview, Image Tasks, Video Tasks, Camera ID Verification Tasks, Provenance

Classification of STR allelic variation using massively parallel sequencing and assessment of flanking region power

July 12, 2020
Author(s)
Laurence Devesse, Lucinda Davenport, Lisa Borsuk, Katherine Gettings, Gabriella Mason-Buck, Peter Vallone, David Ballard
The application of massively parallel sequencing (MPS) to forensic genetics has led to improvements in multiple aspects of DNA analysis, however, additional complexities are concurrently associated with these advances. In relation to short tandem repeat

DNA mixture interpretation principles: insights from the NIST scientific foundation review

July 1, 2020
Author(s)
John Butler, Hariharan Iyer, Richard Press, Melissa Taylor, Peter Vallone, Sheila Willis
DNA mixture interpretation has become more challenging in recent years due to several factors including submission of more touch evidence samples to aid investigations and generation of more sensitive DNA test results with new STR typing kits. This

Visualizing Shed Skin Cells in Fingerprint Residue using Dark Field Microscopy

March 5, 2020
Author(s)
Shinichiro N. Muramoto, William Osborn, J Greg Gillen
The proof of concept study was able to show that dark field microscopy could be used to provide sufficient contrast for cell visualization in fingerprints with high sebum content. Although the application is limited to smooth surfaces that do not scatter

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

February 17, 2020
Author(s)
Melissa Taylor, Carolyne Bird, Brett Bishop, Ted Burkes, Michael P. Caligiuri, Bryan Found, Wesley P. Grose, Lauren R. Logan, Kenneth E. Melson, Mara L. Merlino, Larry S. Miller, Linton Mohammed, Jonathan Morris, John Paul Osborn, Nikola Osborne, Brent Ostrum, Christopher P. Saunders, Scott A. Shappell, H. David Sheets, Sargur N. Srihari, Reinoud D. Stoel, Thomas W. Vastrick, Heather E. Waltke, Emily J. 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

NIST Ballistics Toolmark Research Database

January 27, 2020
Author(s)
Xiaoyu Alan Zheng, Johannes A. Soons, Robert M. Thompson, Sushama P. Singh, Cerasela Constantin
In 2009, a report by the National Academies called into question, amongst other issues, the objectivity of visual toolmark identification by firearms examiners. The National Academies recommended development of objective toolmark identification criteria

Results of the 2018 Rapid DNA Maturity Assessment

January 27, 2020
Author(s)
Erica L. Romsos, Peter Vallone
Three commercially available integrated rapid DNA instruments were tested as a part of a rapid DNA maturity assessment in the July of 2018. The assessment was conducted with sets of blinded single-source reference samples to gauge the typing success of the

Emerging techniques for the detection of pyrotechnic residues from seized postal packages containing fireworks

January 24, 2020
Author(s)
John Gillen, Thomas Forbes, Jennifer R. Verkouteren, Shannon T. Krauss, Karlijn Bezemer, Arian C. van Asten, Peter J. Shoenmakers, Mattijs Koeberg
High volume screening of parcels with the aim to trace the illegal distribution and selling of fireworks using postal services is challenging. Inspection services have limited manpower and means to perform extensive visual inspection. In this study, the

Forensic Analysis of Advanced Persistent Threat Attacks in Cloud Environments

January 6, 2020
Author(s)
Changwei Liu, Anoop Singhal, Duminda Wijesekera
Due to the increasing cyber-activities and the use of diverse devices offered on cloud environments, post-attack cloud forensic investigations must deal with data in diverse formats and quantities from emerging attackable interfaces. The process of

Pilot Study on Deformed Bullet Correlation

January 1, 2020
Author(s)
Zhe Chen, Jun-Feng Song, Johannes A. Soons, Robert M. Thompson, Xuezeng Zhao
Most studies on bullet identification address test fire bullet that have near pristine striation marks on the land engraved areas (LEAs). However, in case work, bullets found at a crime scene may be severely deformed or fragmented. The resulting missing

D4I-Digital forensics framework for reviewing and investigating cyber attacks

December 26, 2019
Author(s)
Athanasios Dimitriadis, Boonserm Kulvatunyou, Nenad Ivezic, Ioannis Mavridis
Many companies have cited lack of cyber-security as the main barrier to Industrie 4.0 or digitalization. Security functions include protection, detection, response and investigation. Cyber-attack investigation is important as it can support the mitigation

Standardization of File Recovery Classification and Authentication

December 1, 2019
Author(s)
Eoghan Casey, Alexander J. Nelson, Jessica Hyde
Digital forensics can no longer tolerate software that cannot be relied upon to perform specific functions such as file recovery. The root of this problem is a lack of clearly defined software requirements, which compels users and tool testers to make

Sensitive Method for the Confident Identification of Genetically Variant Peptides in Human Hair

October 31, 2019
Author(s)
Zheng Zhang, Meghan Burke, William E. Wallace, Yuxue Liang, Sergey L. Sheetlin, Yuri Mirokhin, Dmitrii Tchekhovskoi, Stephen Stein
Recent reports have demonstrated that genetically variant peptides (GVPs) derived from human hair shaft proteins can be used to differentiate individuals of different biogeographic origin (Parker, G.J.; et al. PLos One. 2016, e0160653). We report a direct

NIST Big Data Interoperability Framework: Volume 4, Security and Privacy

October 21, 2019
Author(s)
Wo L. Chang, Arnab Roy, Mark Underwood
Big Data is a term used to describe the large amount of data in the networked, digitized, sensor-laden, information-driven world. While opportunities exist with Big Data, the data can overwhelm traditional technical approaches and the growth of data is

Discriminative potential of ion mobility spectrometry for the detection of fentanyl and fentanyl analogues relative to confounding environmental interferents

September 27, 2019
Author(s)
Thomas Forbes, Jeffrey Lawrence, Jennifer R. Verkouteren, R. Michael Verkouteren
The opioid crisis and emergence of fentanyl, fentanyl analogues, and other synthetic opioids has highlighted the need for sensitive and robust detection for interdiction at screening points, notably vehicles at border crossings and packages at postal
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