The underlying principles involved in the interpretation of shoeprint comparisons have become a t... more The underlying principles involved in the interpretation of shoeprint comparisons have become a topical subject due to criticisms in the 2009 National Academy of Science (NAS) report on forensic sciences[1]. Difficulties in the application and understanding of these principles were also highlighted in a recent court ruling [2-5] and subsequent discussion of the ruling. We report here a survey that may inform some aspects of this interpretation and discuss the implications of findings from this survey in the light of that court ruling and more importantly the NAS report. 1,511 shoeprints were taken from student volunteers in Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin, New Zealand. 500 shoeprints were sampled from student volunteers at Australian universities. 100 from each of the University of Technology in Sydney, University of Queensland in Brisbane, University of Newcastle, Charles Sturt University in Bathurst and University of Canberra, Australia. These cities are distributed along the east coast of Australia. The shoeprints, taken from each country, were compared against each other for the presence of any pattern correspondences However shoeprints have not been compared between countries. In all locations the pattern of some common and many rare outsole patterns was repeated, with Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars and Vans Canvas Era common in all locations.
Abstract: Electrical tape is frequently used as a wrapping for drug packages, as reinforcement fo... more Abstract: Electrical tape is frequently used as a wrapping for drug packages, as reinforcement for the stocks of sawed-off firearms, for electrical wiring applications, and as a means to bind a victim. This tape may bear latent fingermarks on the adhesive side or on ...
This article describes the first use of an anti-Stokes material, or up-converter, for the develop... more This article describes the first use of an anti-Stokes material, or up-converter, for the development of latent fingermarks on a range of non-porous surfaces. Anti-Stokes materials can absorb long-wavelength light and emit light at a shorter wavelength. This property is unusual in both natural and artificial materials and so fingermark detection techniques based on anti-Stokes luminescence are potentially sensitive and selective. Latent fingermarks on luminescent and non-luminescent substrates, including Australian polymer banknotes (a well-known 'difficult' surface), were developed with sodium yttrium tetrafluoride doped with erbium and ytterbium (NaYF(4):Er,Yb) by dry powder, wet powder, and cyanoacrylate staining techniques. This study illustrates the potential of up-converter phosphors for the detection of latent fingermarks.
Zinc oxide is evaluated as a fluorescent powder for the detection of fingermarks on non-porous su... more Zinc oxide is evaluated as a fluorescent powder for the detection of fingermarks on non-porous surfaces. Pure and lithium-doped nanostructured zinc oxide powders were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and fluorescence spectroscopy. The zinc oxide powders were applied to fresh and aged fingermarks deposited on non-porous surfaces such as glass, polyethylene and aluminium foil. Zinc oxide was found to produce clear fluorescent impressions of the latent fingermarks when illuminated with long-wave UV light.
The near infrared spectral region offers advantages over the visible region in the detection of l... more The near infrared spectral region offers advantages over the visible region in the detection of latent fingermarks due to increased contrast and decreased background luminescence. In this work, a chemical imaging system was used to image latent fingermarks in the near-...
Physical developer (PD) is a fingermark development technique that deposits silver onto fingermar... more Physical developer (PD) is a fingermark development technique that deposits silver onto fingermark ridges. It is the only technique currently in routine operational use that gives results on porous substrates that have been wet. There is a reasonable understanding of the working solution chemistry, but the chemical constituent(s) contained in fingermark residue that are specifically targeted by PD are largely unknown. A better understanding of the PD technique will permit a more informed selection of alternative or complementary detection methods, and greater usage in operational laboratories. Recent research by our group has shown that PD does not selectively target the lipids present in the residue. This research investigated the hypothesis that PD targets the eccrine constituents in fingermark residue. This was tested by comparison of PD and indanedione-zinc (Ind-Zn) treated natural fingermarks that had been deposited successively, and marks that had been deposited with a ten sec...
This study investigated fingermark residues using Fourier transform infrared microscopy (μ-FTIR) ... more This study investigated fingermark residues using Fourier transform infrared microscopy (μ-FTIR) in order to obtain fundamental information about the marks' initial composition and aging kinetics. This knowledge would be an asset for fundamental research on fingermarks, such as for dating purposes. Attenuated total reflection (ATR) and single-point reflection modes were tested on fresh fingermarks. ATR proved to be better suited and this mode was subsequently selected for further aging studies. Eccrine and sebaceous material was found in fresh and aged fingermarks and the spectral regions 1000-1850cm(-1) and 2700-3600cm(-1) were identified as the most informative. The impact of substrates (aluminium and glass slides) and storage conditions (storage in the light and in the dark) on fingermark aging was also studied. Chemometric analyses showed that fingermarks could be grouped according to their age regardless of the substrate when they were stored in an open box kept in an air-c...
... Tire Impressions. Wiley Encyclopedia of Forensic Science. ... In this article, we will look a... more ... Tire Impressions. Wiley Encyclopedia of Forensic Science. ... In this article, we will look at the implications on tire marks in particular. These marks can potentially be significant because vehicles play and important role in 75% of all major crimes in today's society [6]. Tire marks ...
... place holder. ... NCJ Number: 162683. Title: Computer-Assisted Identification of Color Photoc... more ... place holder. ... NCJ Number: 162683. Title: Computer-Assisted Identification of Color Photocopiers. Journal: Science and Justice Volume:35 Issue:2 Dated:(April-June 1995) Pages:117-125. Author(s): WD Mazzella; C Roux; CJ Lennard. Publication Date: 1995. Pages: 9. ...
The underlying principles involved in the interpretation of shoeprint comparisons have become a t... more The underlying principles involved in the interpretation of shoeprint comparisons have become a topical subject due to criticisms in the 2009 National Academy of Science (NAS) report on forensic sciences[1]. Difficulties in the application and understanding of these principles were also highlighted in a recent court ruling [2-5] and subsequent discussion of the ruling. We report here a survey that may inform some aspects of this interpretation and discuss the implications of findings from this survey in the light of that court ruling and more importantly the NAS report. 1,511 shoeprints were taken from student volunteers in Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin, New Zealand. 500 shoeprints were sampled from student volunteers at Australian universities. 100 from each of the University of Technology in Sydney, University of Queensland in Brisbane, University of Newcastle, Charles Sturt University in Bathurst and University of Canberra, Australia. These cities are distributed along the east coast of Australia. The shoeprints, taken from each country, were compared against each other for the presence of any pattern correspondences However shoeprints have not been compared between countries. In all locations the pattern of some common and many rare outsole patterns was repeated, with Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars and Vans Canvas Era common in all locations.
The underlying principles involved in the interpretation of shoeprint comparisons have become a t... more The underlying principles involved in the interpretation of shoeprint comparisons have become a topical subject due to criticisms in the 2009 National Academy of Science (NAS) report on forensic sciences[1]. Difficulties in the application and understanding of these principles were also highlighted in a recent court ruling [2-5] and subsequent discussion of the ruling. We report here a survey that may inform some aspects of this interpretation and discuss the implications of findings from this survey in the light of that court ruling and more importantly the NAS report. 1,511 shoeprints were taken from student volunteers in Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin, New Zealand. 500 shoeprints were sampled from student volunteers at Australian universities. 100 from each of the University of Technology in Sydney, University of Queensland in Brisbane, University of Newcastle, Charles Sturt University in Bathurst and University of Canberra, Australia. These cities are distributed along the east coast of Australia. The shoeprints, taken from each country, were compared against each other for the presence of any pattern correspondences However shoeprints have not been compared between countries. In all locations the pattern of some common and many rare outsole patterns was repeated, with Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars and Vans Canvas Era common in all locations.
Abstract: Electrical tape is frequently used as a wrapping for drug packages, as reinforcement fo... more Abstract: Electrical tape is frequently used as a wrapping for drug packages, as reinforcement for the stocks of sawed-off firearms, for electrical wiring applications, and as a means to bind a victim. This tape may bear latent fingermarks on the adhesive side or on ...
This article describes the first use of an anti-Stokes material, or up-converter, for the develop... more This article describes the first use of an anti-Stokes material, or up-converter, for the development of latent fingermarks on a range of non-porous surfaces. Anti-Stokes materials can absorb long-wavelength light and emit light at a shorter wavelength. This property is unusual in both natural and artificial materials and so fingermark detection techniques based on anti-Stokes luminescence are potentially sensitive and selective. Latent fingermarks on luminescent and non-luminescent substrates, including Australian polymer banknotes (a well-known 'difficult' surface), were developed with sodium yttrium tetrafluoride doped with erbium and ytterbium (NaYF(4):Er,Yb) by dry powder, wet powder, and cyanoacrylate staining techniques. This study illustrates the potential of up-converter phosphors for the detection of latent fingermarks.
Zinc oxide is evaluated as a fluorescent powder for the detection of fingermarks on non-porous su... more Zinc oxide is evaluated as a fluorescent powder for the detection of fingermarks on non-porous surfaces. Pure and lithium-doped nanostructured zinc oxide powders were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and fluorescence spectroscopy. The zinc oxide powders were applied to fresh and aged fingermarks deposited on non-porous surfaces such as glass, polyethylene and aluminium foil. Zinc oxide was found to produce clear fluorescent impressions of the latent fingermarks when illuminated with long-wave UV light.
The near infrared spectral region offers advantages over the visible region in the detection of l... more The near infrared spectral region offers advantages over the visible region in the detection of latent fingermarks due to increased contrast and decreased background luminescence. In this work, a chemical imaging system was used to image latent fingermarks in the near-...
Physical developer (PD) is a fingermark development technique that deposits silver onto fingermar... more Physical developer (PD) is a fingermark development technique that deposits silver onto fingermark ridges. It is the only technique currently in routine operational use that gives results on porous substrates that have been wet. There is a reasonable understanding of the working solution chemistry, but the chemical constituent(s) contained in fingermark residue that are specifically targeted by PD are largely unknown. A better understanding of the PD technique will permit a more informed selection of alternative or complementary detection methods, and greater usage in operational laboratories. Recent research by our group has shown that PD does not selectively target the lipids present in the residue. This research investigated the hypothesis that PD targets the eccrine constituents in fingermark residue. This was tested by comparison of PD and indanedione-zinc (Ind-Zn) treated natural fingermarks that had been deposited successively, and marks that had been deposited with a ten sec...
This study investigated fingermark residues using Fourier transform infrared microscopy (μ-FTIR) ... more This study investigated fingermark residues using Fourier transform infrared microscopy (μ-FTIR) in order to obtain fundamental information about the marks' initial composition and aging kinetics. This knowledge would be an asset for fundamental research on fingermarks, such as for dating purposes. Attenuated total reflection (ATR) and single-point reflection modes were tested on fresh fingermarks. ATR proved to be better suited and this mode was subsequently selected for further aging studies. Eccrine and sebaceous material was found in fresh and aged fingermarks and the spectral regions 1000-1850cm(-1) and 2700-3600cm(-1) were identified as the most informative. The impact of substrates (aluminium and glass slides) and storage conditions (storage in the light and in the dark) on fingermark aging was also studied. Chemometric analyses showed that fingermarks could be grouped according to their age regardless of the substrate when they were stored in an open box kept in an air-c...
... Tire Impressions. Wiley Encyclopedia of Forensic Science. ... In this article, we will look a... more ... Tire Impressions. Wiley Encyclopedia of Forensic Science. ... In this article, we will look at the implications on tire marks in particular. These marks can potentially be significant because vehicles play and important role in 75% of all major crimes in today's society [6]. Tire marks ...
... place holder. ... NCJ Number: 162683. Title: Computer-Assisted Identification of Color Photoc... more ... place holder. ... NCJ Number: 162683. Title: Computer-Assisted Identification of Color Photocopiers. Journal: Science and Justice Volume:35 Issue:2 Dated:(April-June 1995) Pages:117-125. Author(s): WD Mazzella; C Roux; CJ Lennard. Publication Date: 1995. Pages: 9. ...
The underlying principles involved in the interpretation of shoeprint comparisons have become a t... more The underlying principles involved in the interpretation of shoeprint comparisons have become a topical subject due to criticisms in the 2009 National Academy of Science (NAS) report on forensic sciences[1]. Difficulties in the application and understanding of these principles were also highlighted in a recent court ruling [2-5] and subsequent discussion of the ruling. We report here a survey that may inform some aspects of this interpretation and discuss the implications of findings from this survey in the light of that court ruling and more importantly the NAS report. 1,511 shoeprints were taken from student volunteers in Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin, New Zealand. 500 shoeprints were sampled from student volunteers at Australian universities. 100 from each of the University of Technology in Sydney, University of Queensland in Brisbane, University of Newcastle, Charles Sturt University in Bathurst and University of Canberra, Australia. These cities are distributed along the east coast of Australia. The shoeprints, taken from each country, were compared against each other for the presence of any pattern correspondences However shoeprints have not been compared between countries. In all locations the pattern of some common and many rare outsole patterns was repeated, with Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars and Vans Canvas Era common in all locations.
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