Paving new ways in forensic contexts with virtual osteology applications: csg-toolkit – a 3D osteology package for cross-sectional geometry analysis

Abstract

This work presents the newly updated csg-toolkit package for GNU Octave, a user-friendly virtual osteology software that can compute and visualize the diaphyseal cross-sectional geometric (CSG) properties of the long bones of the lower and upper limbs. The CSG properties of the diaphysis have been extensively used for mechanical loading studies and have recently shown promising results in research topics of forensic anthropology, such as skeletal activity markers, sex estimation, and osteometric sorting. The csg-toolkit optimizes the computation of the CSG properties by integrating existing 3D technologies and novel computational geometry methods in osteology, so that they can be embedded in forensic applications. This new version supports a number of additional options regarding the computation and visualization of those properties, such as placement customization for the cross-sections, automatic registration and identification of the specific bone model and its alignment points, and visual inspection of the cross-sections upon generation. Additional improvements have been made that minimize the effort and time needed for analyzing a long bone. The csg-toolkit is a reliable alternative to the traditional Latex Cast Method. Overall, the csg-toolkit provides a simple, flexible, and computationally accurate method for 3D virtual long bone analysis and its free and open-source implementation can facilitate the utilization of cross-sectional geometry in forensic contexts.