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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
The Influence Of Body Size On Sexual Dimorphism, Haley Elizabeth Horbaly
The Influence Of Body Size On Sexual Dimorphism, Haley Elizabeth Horbaly
Masters Theses
Accurate sex estimation of human skeletal remains is imperative for skeletal biologists, and relies upon the sexual dimorphism between males and females in a population. The degree of dimorphism, and hence the accuracy of sex estimation methods, are known to vary among populations, and while such global patterns have been well studied, the underlying causes of this variation are relatively unclear. Body size—a sexually dimorphic trait that also varies among populations—has previously been shown to affect skeletal morphology, yet whether specific body size parameters, such as stature and body mass, influence the expression of traits used for nonmetric sex estimation …
An Exploration Of The Effects Of Taphonomy On Isotope Ratios Of Human Hair, Tiffany Bivens Saul
An Exploration Of The Effects Of Taphonomy On Isotope Ratios Of Human Hair, Tiffany Bivens Saul
Doctoral Dissertations
Isotope analyses of human remains have been conducted with growing frequency over the past thirty years in anthropology, in both archaeological and forensic contexts. Analyses of isotope ratios of elements such as carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, and strontium from teeth, bones, and hair have provided information regarding individual diet and geographic movement during different life stages. Hair grows at a predictable rate and provides a serial recording of diet and travel history for the weeks and months just prior to death. What has not been systematically studied is whether postmortem decompositional changes to the body have an effect upon isotope …
Geographic Information Systems (Gis) And Predictive Modeling Of Body Disposal Sites, Annemarie Catherine Gundel
Geographic Information Systems (Gis) And Predictive Modeling Of Body Disposal Sites, Annemarie Catherine Gundel
Masters Theses
Homicide victims are often discovered by accident or located through witness testimony, both of which are unreliable methods. Moving a victim’s body from the scene of the crime to a secondary disposal site may further complicate their discovery, delaying recovery, identification, and evidence collection. Homicides are exponentially more difficult to investigate, solve, and prosecute without a body. In the medicolegal context, a body disposal site prediction model is an alternative to relying on luck or witness testimony. Predictive models were created using body disposal data collected from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME), Connecticut, to explore the feasibility …
Identity By The Numbers: Cancerous Lesions And Likelihood Ratios, William Daniel Cawley
Identity By The Numbers: Cancerous Lesions And Likelihood Ratios, William Daniel Cawley
Masters Theses
The use of Bayesian theory has been gaining popularity within the forensic anthropology community for its ability to model the way in which decisions are made based upon varying levels of confidence. However, many forensic anthropologists have been reticent to adapt Bayesian approaches given the general lack of knowledge in regards to this approach (Konigsberg and Frankenburg, 2013:153). The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate how the application of an establish Bayesian framework can be used to determine likelihood ratios representing the probative value of skeletal lesions consistent with cancer for use in forensic personal identification. To do this, …
Juvenile Remains: Predicting Body Mass And Stature In Modern American Populations, Erin F E Pinkston
Juvenile Remains: Predicting Body Mass And Stature In Modern American Populations, Erin F E Pinkston
Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects
There are increasing numbers of unidentified persons in the U.S. and abroad. To generate positive identifications, forensic anthropologists and others working in the medicolegal field employ a variety of methods to produce biological profiles to match to case files and missing persons databases. Body mass, and stature are two important components of a biological profile, and both can be estimated using regression formulae derived from skeletal metrics. In cases of unidentified juvenile remains, these are particularly important metrics, as it is difficult or impossible to determine sex in prepubescent remains, and the quality of ancestry estimation is currently under debate …