Papillae pattern prints play an essential role in identification of a person. However, their presence on the object found at the scene does not mean that the identified person committed a specific crime or participated in the concealment of the crime. Therefore, no less important is the object on which there are possible papillae pattern prints left, the mechanism of formation and location of them on the object. The skin of a victim, on which one can visualise the papillae pattern prints, can be one of such objects. However, there is a number of factors that may affect the genesis of papillae pattern prints on human skin that one cannot have an impact on. Identifying study and analysis of such factors may affect testing and introduction of visualisation methods of such prints. Papillārlīniju rakstu pēdām ir būtiska loma personas identifikācijā. Tomēr to atrašanās uz kāda objekta, kas atrasts notikuma vietā, vēl nenozīmē, ka identificētā persona ir izdarījusi konkrēto noziedzīgo nodarījumu vai ņēmusi dalību noziedzīga nodarījuma slēpšanā. Tāpēc ne mazāk svarīgs ir objekts, uz kura ir atstātas iespējamās papillārlīniju rakstu pēdas, un jautājums, kāds ir pēdu veidošanās mehānisms un izvietojums uz objekta. Viens no šādiem objektiem varētu būt upura āda, uz kuras ir iespējams vizualizēt papillārlīniju rakstu pēdas. Tomēr pastāv vairāki faktori, kas var ietekmēt papillārlīniju rakstu pēdu ģenēzi uz cilvēka ādas un kurus mēs nevaram ietekmēt. Šādu faktoru apzināšana, izpēte un analīze varētu ietekmēt šo pēdu vizualizēšanas metožu aprobēšanu un ieviešanu praksē.

Open educational resources are among the important factors that affect the quality of contemporary education. The new form of education has been recognised by UNESCO and has become an important element in reaching sustainable development goals in educational sector. This article covers the experience of using open educational resources for expert support in justice, based on international experience. To identify the possibility of using open educational resources in the specific area of forensic experts’ education, the authors of the article have conducted a survey among expert community, and the survey results are presented in this study. Representatives of expert institutions from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Israel, Latvia, Montenegro, Poland, Slovenia, Ukraine and other countries have participated in the survey.  The analysis of survey results shows that the introduction of open educational resources is acceptable for most respondents. It was found that ‘OER: Forensic Science’ project is going to be the first educational content of the kind to be introduced in forensic expert institutions and universities entitled to support educational activities. It is proven that open educational resources can enhance quality of the learning process at two levels at least. First, it is the quality of teaching and secondly, it is the new digital approach to learning environment that allows access to all studies necessary to perform forensic expert activities.

One of the important factors influencing the quality of modern education is Open Educational Resources. The new form of education was recognised by UNESCO and become an important element in achieving the main goals of Sustainable Development in the field of Education. Open Educational Resources play transformative role in the cases of supporting both regular and specific fields of education. The paper examines the role of Open Educational Resources in the field of such a specific industry/occupation as forensic experts. Forensic experts’ learning process has several levels that start from the access to higher education. The requirements to receive forensic expert’s certificate stems from the national law. And these requirements could vary from country to country. Open Educational Resources represent an opportunity for a great number of learners in various study fields. Nevertheless, those resources are not used in forensic expert education. To clarify the possibility to use Open Educational Resources in specific forensic expert education field, a research on forensic expert education in Latvia and Ukraine has been conducted. Open Educational Resources can improve the quality of education on at least two levels. The first one is the quality of teaching content and the second is the modern learning environment, providing access to all necessary researches that are necessary to pass the forensic expert examination. Authors found out that nowadays Open Educational Resources are not applied in forensic experts’ education. As the research reveals, the main resources are legal documents and practical knowledge provided by academic staff. From the authors perspective it is suggested to create an Open Educational Resource that could provide forensic experts with the information necessary to pass the examination and to improve both practical and theoretical skills. Nevertheless, Open Educational Resources in such a specific field can met several challenges.

The aim of the authors’ experiment conducted was to find out whether it is possible to find, visualise and recover papillae pattern prints from the surfaces of fruits, vegetables and plant leaves. The experiment was performed in four stages. The first stage was performed in the room where the temperature varied from 21°C to 25°C and the time periods were as follows: prints were visualised and copied immediately after leaving them, in 1 hour after leaving them, as well as in 24 hours, in 48 hours, in 72 hours and in 120 hours after leaving the prints. 217 papillae pattern prints were left on the surfaces of fruits and vegetables. 119 of them were recognised as valid for person identification. The second stage was performed under natural weather conditions with the air temperature from 14°C to –20°C. The fruits and vegetables were not covered so that they could not be affected by the meteorological conditions. The time periods were as follows: prints were visualised and copied immediately after leaving them, in 12 hours, in 24 hours and in 36 hours after leaving the experimental prints. As the result 176 papillae pattern prints were left on the surfaces if fruits and vegetables. 43 of them were recognised as valid for person identification. The third stage was performed in the room where the temperature varied from 21°C to 25°C. Experimental papillae pattern prints were left on the leaves of dandelion, apple tree, birch, plantain, clematis and bent-grass. Immediately after leaving the prints they were processed with black fingerprint powder and copied by white Mikrosil silicon casting material. As the result 13 papillae pattern prints were left on the surfaces of plant leaves. All of them were recognised as valid for person identification. Whereas, in the fourth stage plant leaves were exposed to the influence of meteorological conditions (air temperature varied from 28°C to 34°C, it was almost sunny, the slow wind, a bit rain) for time periods of 24 hours and 48 hours. As the result 65 papillae pattern prints were left on the surfaces of plant leaves. 11 of them were recognised as valid for person identification. The summary of the results obtained during the experiment and the analysis let to conclude that: it is possible to find, visualise and recover papillae pattern prints from the surfaces of fruits, vegetables and plant leaves by using powder method which can be used both on scene and under laboratory conditions; there is no set proportionality between number of prints left and prints valid for person identification; quality of prints is not always influenced by preservation time period of prints; meteorological conditions have essential influence on the quality of prints in the preservation time period of prints.

The phenomenon of human skin bears in the fact that in commitment of a crime it may be at the same time both a traceforming object and a trace-bearing object. Therefore, the presence of papillae pattern prints on human (victim) skin has long been of experts’ interest. Several experimental series have been conducted with the aim of finding the most optimal method for visualization and recovery of papillae pattern prints from a deceased human skin. One such experimental series was also carried out by the author of the paper.The aim of this paper is to correlate the results of experimental series. The following tasks were set to achieve the aim: to summarize the raw data and the results of the experimental series; to study and analyze common and different in raw data; to study and analyze the potential impact of differences in raw data on the outcome; to study and analyze raw data that can and cannot be influenced. The problem of the study is the divergence of views and opinions concerning the theoretical and practical aspects of the method applied. The novelty of the study is in analysis of raw data and results of experimental series, correlation of results.Analyzing the raw data of the experimental series and the results obtained by the author and foreign researchers it was stated that both similar and different raw data were used in the experimental series; there were experimental series where more raw data were used than in other experimental series; a difference was found between theoretical and practical aspects.