Spectroscopy and chemometrics for differentiation of sex in human head hair fibers

IF 2.6 3区医学 Q2 CHEMISTRY, ANALYTICAL

Forensic Chemistry Pub Date : 2024-12-10 DOI:10.1016/j.forc.2024.100632

Drew Mueller , Alexis Hecker , John V. Goodpaster

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Human hair is one of the most common pieces of evidence in forensics, however, it lacks a non-destructive, time-efficient, methodology for qualitative information. With the already well-established method for fiber analysis in spectroscopy and the common presence of Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and microspectrophotometry (MSP) instrumentation in forensics, this study proposes chemometric approach to differentiate hair fibers on the sex assigned at birth. The IR and MSP hair sample spectra from different sexes were collected and, following spectral pre-treatment and mid-level data fusion, were used to calibrate a neural network model with 99.6% accuracy and 99.4% validation accuracy through an external validation dataset. This approach provides a robust model with significant qualitative information for forensic investigations that can be easily applied in forensic labs across the world. These results represent a rather small population size which would need to be expanded for real-world forensic applications.

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来源期刊

Forensic Chemistry CHEMISTRY, ANALYTICAL-

CiteScore

5.70

自引率

14.80%

发文量

审稿时长

46 days

期刊介绍： Forensic Chemistry publishes high quality manuscripts focusing on the theory, research and application of any chemical science to forensic analysis. The scope of the journal includes fundamental advancements that result in a better understanding of the evidentiary significance derived from the physical and chemical analysis of materials. The scope of Forensic Chemistry will also include the application and or development of any molecular and atomic spectrochemical technique, electrochemical techniques, sensors, surface characterization techniques, mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance, chemometrics and statistics, and separation sciences (e.g. chromatography) that provide insight into the forensic analysis of materials. Evidential topics of interest to the journal include, but are not limited to, fingerprint analysis, drug analysis, ignitable liquid residue analysis, explosives detection and analysis, the characterization and comparison of trace evidence (glass, fibers, paints and polymers, tapes, soils and other materials), ink and paper analysis, gunshot residue analysis, synthetic pathways for drugs, toxicology and the analysis and chemistry associated with the components of fingermarks. The journal is particularly interested in receiving manuscripts that report advances in the forensic interpretation of chemical evidence. Technology Readiness Level: When submitting an article to Forensic Chemistry, all authors will be asked to self-assign a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) to their article. The purpose of the TRL system is to help readers understand the level of maturity of an idea or method, to help track the evolution of readiness of a given technique or method, and to help filter published articles by the expected ease of implementation in an operation setting within a crime lab.