Computerized reconstruction of fragmentary skeletal remains

Mahfouz, Mohamed R.; Mustafa, Ali; Fatah, Emam El Hak Abdel; Herrmann, Nicholas P.; Langley, Natalie R.

doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2017.03.017

Cited by 18 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…The registration of shape‐and‐size data from fragmentary skeletal elements (i.e., unequal point clouds) poses a unique problem that very few researchers in forensic anthropology have attempted to solve . Many of the mathematical theories and methods for attempting such registrations have existed elsewhere in the image processing and media analysis domain for decades .…”

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confidence: 99%

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An Automated Two‐dimensional Pairwise form Registration Method for Pair‐matching of Fragmented Skeletal Remains

Lynch

2018

Journal of Forensic Sciences

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This study introduces an automated pairwise method for osteological pair-matching of fragmented skeletal remains using two-dimensional fragmented outlines extracted from photographs. The form data are used in pairwise iterative closest point registrations with rigid transformations. A modified version of the average Hausdorff distance is calculated to remove any coordinate correspondences with outline fracture margins, which allow the distance analysis of fragmented outlines. A dilation modification to the Hausdorff distance is proposed creating a greater separation between true- and false-pairs. The sample consists of 122 calcanei (61 pairs) from the UI-Stanford collection. Performance statistics are provided for simulated fragmented and complete assemblages. Results indicate up to 98% accuracy for fragmented and complete assemblages. The dilated Hausdorff distance performed similarly across assemblages, but showed a slight decrease in performance for the complete assemblage. This approach provides a useful short listing tool to reduce the number of visual comparisons required in large commingled assemblages.

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confidence: 99%

“…Following this shift in data analytics, a recent study in the forensic anthropology domain attempted to solve the problem of fragmentary registration using a variant of iterative closest point (ICP) with feature extraction. Iterative closest point translates, rotates, and sometimes scales a query shape to match a target shape.…”

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confidence: 99%

An Automated Two‐dimensional Pairwise form Registration Method for Pair‐matching of Fragmented Skeletal Remains

Lynch

2018

Journal of Forensic Sciences

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“…First, missing parts of a bone due to animal scavenging or fracturing is a general issue for sex determination when using the length of the femur. In such cases, the bones might be reconstructed with reasonable accuracy by using SSM as shown by Mahfouz et al using a software called Fragmen (Mahfouz, Mustafa, Abdel Fatah, Herrmann, & Langley, ). This might allow the application of established methods for sex and stature estimation on the reconstructed bone.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

CT‐based sex estimation on human femora using statistical shape modeling

Fliss

Luethi

Fuernstahl

et al. 2019

American J Phys Anthropol

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Objectives: Estimating the sex of decomposed corpses and skeletal remains of unknown individuals is one of the first steps in the identification process in forensic contexts.Although various studies have considered the femur for sex estimation, the focus has primarily been on a specific single or a handful of measurements rather than the entire shape of the bone. In this article, we use statistical shape modeling (SSM) for sex estimation. We hypothesize that the accuracy of sex estimation will be improved by using the entire shape. Materials and Methods:For this study, we acquired a total of 61 femora from routine postmortem CT scans at the Institute for Forensic Medicine of the University of Zurich. The femora were extracted using segmentation technique. After building a SSM, we used the linear regression and nonlinear support vector machine technique for classification.Results: Using linear logistic regression and only the first principal component of the SSM, 76% of the femora were correctly classified by sex. Using the first five principal components, this value could be increased to 80%. Using nonlinear support vector machines and the first 20 principal components increased the rate of correctly classified femora to 87%.Discussion: Despite some limitations, the results obtained by using SSM for sex estimation in femur were promising and confirm the findings of other studies. Sex estimation accuracy, however, is not significantly improved over single or multiple linear measurements. Further research might improve the sex determination process in forensic anthropology by using SSM. K E Y W O R D SCT, forensic anthropology, forensic imaging, sex estimation, statistical shape modeling

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“…These regions were chosen because it allowed the evaluation of the left and right side against each other. Moreover, the existent literature in the field reports that the six main long bones are more likely to be preserved either completely or partially in a commingled scenario (Steel and McKern, 1969, Simmons et al, 1990, Holland, 1992, Adam and Byrd, 2006, Chibba and Bidmos, 2007, Bidmos, 2008, Robinson et at., 2008, Giurazza et al, 2012, Hishmat et al, 2014, Karell et al, 2016, and Mahfouz et al, 2016) (See Table 1 for list of the regions evaluated). Once the bones had been exported and measurements taken, regression equations developed for use on dry bones by Byrd and Adams (2003) were tested to assess their efficacy in relation to identifying the likelihood that bones originated from the same individual as they would in a dry bone commingling scenario.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of the applicability of regression equations for sorting commingled remains on 3-Dimensional bony elements from CT scans

Simone

Hackman

2019

Forensic Science International

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This pilot study examines the applicability of osteometric models for addressing commingled remains, which were originally developed for dry specimens, on 3-Dimensional bony elements in relation to a modern cadaveric population. A total of 70 bony elements (humeri, radii, ulnae, femora, tibiae and fibulae) were segmented and virtually reconstructed from cadaveric whole-body CT scans. Linear measurements were taken (using MeshLab v.2016.12) of the 3-Dimensional elements and osteometric models for sorting applied to them (Byrd and Adams, 2003). This study showed that on the selected specimens the quality of the surface of the reconstructed specimens compromised the efficacy of the models, and consequently the reliability of the results.

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Computerized reconstruction of fragmentary skeletal remains

Cited by 18 publications

References 13 publications

An Automated Two‐dimensional Pairwise form Registration Method for Pair‐matching of Fragmented Skeletal Remains

An Automated Two‐dimensional Pairwise form Registration Method for Pair‐matching of Fragmented Skeletal Remains

CT‐based sex estimation on human femora using statistical shape modeling

Evaluation of the applicability of regression equations for sorting commingled remains on 3-Dimensional bony elements from CT scans

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