Science & Justice最新文献

{"title":"Firearm projectile collection techniques: A comparative study on the retention of textile fibers adhered during projectile perforation of denim fabric","authors":"Carlos Antonio Vicentin Junior ,&nbsp;Raíssa Bastos Vieira ,&nbsp;Pércio Almeida Fistarol Filho ,&nbsp;Lehi Sudy dos Santos ,&nbsp;Melina Calmon Silva ,&nbsp;Michele Avila dos Santos ,&nbsp;Carlos Eduardo Palhares Machado","doi":"10.1016/j.scijus.2025.101338","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.scijus.2025.101338","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Trace evidence plays a critical role in forensic reconstructions, especially when involving microscopic materials transferred during projectile impacts. This study investigated the adherence of blue jeans fibers to 9 mm caliber projectiles, evaluating six projectile collection methods—PVC tube filled with cotton, PVC tube filled with cotton waste, water tank, ballistic vest plates (Kevlar®), combination of cardboard and ballistic plates, and motorcycle tire combined with ballistic plates—and comparing two ammunition types: hollow-point (HP) and full metal jacket (FMJ). Digital microscopy enabled high-resolution, non-destructive analysis of fiber adherence. HP projectiles retained blue jeans fibers in 94.4 % of cases, significantly more than FMJ projectiles (22.2 %), with a highly significant association. Fiber presence was most frequently observed at the projectile tip and within the HP cavity. Barriers using cotton provided optimal conditions for fiber preservation and minimal visual contamination, whereas water tanks caused fragmentation in HP projectiles and the other materials resulted in considerable deformation and visual contamination, hindering analysis. These findings confirm the superior capacity of HP projectiles to retain microtraces and establish cotton-filled PVC tubes as an effective method for ballistic evidence recovery. Therefore, the use of hollow-point projectiles combined with the cotton-filled PVC tube collection technique is recommended for ballistic tests involving textile microtrace analysis. The study also emphasizes that the absence of visible fibers should not be interpreted as a lack of fabric interaction.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49565,"journal":{"name":"Science & Justice","volume":"65 6","pages":"Article 101338"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145106998","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Artificial intelligence-assisted estimation of postmortem intervals in bacterially infected cadavers using pathological imaging across variable temperature conditions","authors":"Xinggong Liang ,&nbsp;Gongji Wang ,&nbsp;Han Wang ,&nbsp;Zhengyang Zhu ,&nbsp;Wanqing Zhang ,&nbsp;Yuqian Li ,&nbsp;Jianliang Luo ,&nbsp;Shuo Wu ,&nbsp;Run Chen ,&nbsp;Mingyan Deng ,&nbsp;Hao Wu ,&nbsp;Chen Shen ,&nbsp;Gengwang Hu ,&nbsp;Kai Zhang ,&nbsp;Qinru Sun ,&nbsp;Zhenyuan Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.scijus.2025.101344","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.scijus.2025.101344","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Accurate estimation of the postmortem interval (PMI) is crucial in forensic investigations but remains challenging due to environmental, individual, and cause-of-death variables. Traditional methods relying on postmortem changes (e.g., livor mortis, rigor mortis) are subjective and limited, especially for late PMI. Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and computational pathology, particularly whole-slide imaging (WSI), enable data-driven PMI estimation by analyzing digital pathology images with high precision and reproducibility. Building on previous successes in using AI to estimate PMI in uninfected conditions, this study extends the method to bacterially infected mouse cadavers (Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) under varying temperatures (25 °C, 37 °C, and 4 °C). The results demonstrate the model’s robustness in diverse scenarios, achieving micro- and macro-area under the curve values (AUCs) of at least 0.873 (patch-level) and 0.717 (WSI-level) in training and testing sets, and no less than 0.948 (patch-level) in external validation. By leveraging easily prepared pathological sections and AI algorithms, this approach offers a practical, objective, and scalable solution for PMI estimation, enhancing forensic workflows. The integration of computational pathology with forensic science establishes a new technical benchmark for PMI estimation in both infected and uninfected cases.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49565,"journal":{"name":"Science & Justice","volume":"65 6","pages":"Article 101344"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145362881","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"BM1: Events Guide","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/S1355-0306(25)00148-0","DOIUrl":"10.1016/S1355-0306(25)00148-0","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49565,"journal":{"name":"Science & Justice","volume":"65 6","pages":"Article 101364"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145623857","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Prelim 3: Contents","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/S1355-0306(25)00147-9","DOIUrl":"10.1016/S1355-0306(25)00147-9","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49565,"journal":{"name":"Science & Justice","volume":"65 6","pages":"Article 101363"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145623860","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Competing explanations in Bayesian networks — The small town murder problem revisited","authors":"Arvid Sjölander ,&nbsp;Gustav Lindkvist","doi":"10.1016/j.scijus.2025.101337","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.scijus.2025.101337","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The use of probability theory and statistical reasoning in legal contexts is controversial, with several well-known thought experiments highlighting perceived paradoxes. One example is the small town murder problem, recently discussed by de Zoete et al., who argued that the perceived paradoxes arise from a failure to properly distinguish between hypotheses and evidence, and can be resolved using Bayesian networks. While we agree with their general conclusions, we contend that their analysis of the small town murder problem overlooks a central issue and underutilizes the full potential of Bayesian modeling. In this note, we propose an alternative analysis of the problem, drawing on well-known results on conditioning on a common effect of two factors.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49565,"journal":{"name":"Science & Justice","volume":"65 6","pages":"Article 101337"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145221544","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"PedaLEGOgy – Using LEGO® crime scenes as an inclusive way to ‘build’ student learning, engagement and educational experience in forensic science","authors":"Louise Dawnay ,&nbsp;Helen Tidy ,&nbsp;Katherine Brown ,&nbsp;Lorna Dawson ,&nbsp;Iain Macaulay ,&nbsp;Nick Dawnay","doi":"10.1016/j.scijus.2025.101347","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.scijus.2025.101347","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Since Francis Glessner Lee created the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death in the 1940 s, the use of miniature crime scene representations has become an accepted and reliable method of allowing students and practitioners to explore, interact, and learn from representations of crime scenes without risk of contamination. Although Lee’s dioramas are still utilised in teaching and training within the forensic sciences these realistic models are expensive and time consuming to create. This research explores an alternative approach to creating miniature crime scenes through the use of Lego® in a workshop developed primarily for undergraduate students. The workshop was developed to align with the Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences CSI Component Standard Matrix and can be easily altered, augmented and re-set to generate new crime scenes to explore different case contexts. The workshop compared two activities: 1) a 30-minute Lego® model activity, and 2) a 30-minute paper-based (non-Lego®) descriptive activity. Questionnaire data collected from 76 students explored demographics, prior experience of Lego® and their engagement in each of the two activities (Lego® verses descriptive). Both activities included the same prompts to discuss CSI team roles, methods for recovery and documentation of different evidence types, and to highlight which evidence items should be prioritised. Questionnaire responses were captured following each activity for a series of seven-point Likert scale questions. While student responses to both activities were generally positive, significantly higher engagement was demonstrated for all measurements when an explorable Lego® model was used compared with descriptive methods. Students commented that the Lego® model activity was fun, interesting and engaging, and made them feel more prepared for their physical crime scene examination assessment work. It was also noted that the Lego® crime scene was inclusive across cohort, sex and disability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49565,"journal":{"name":"Science & Justice","volume":"65 6","pages":"Article 101347"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145416627","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Correspondence: Authors response to correspondence by the Association of Forensic Science Providers (AFSP), Body Fluid Forum (BFF)","authors":"Nick Dawnay,&nbsp;Kayleigh Sheppard","doi":"10.1016/j.scijus.2025.101318","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.scijus.2025.101318","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49565,"journal":{"name":"Science & Justice","volume":"65 6","pages":"Article 101318"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145623854","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"IFC: Editorial Board and Aims and Scope","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/S1355-0306(25)00143-1","DOIUrl":"10.1016/S1355-0306(25)00143-1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49565,"journal":{"name":"Science & Justice","volume":"65 6","pages":"Article 101359"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145623859","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Direct analysis of THC containing edibles using Py-GC/MS","authors":"Fatma Almadani ,&nbsp;Samar Gewily ,&nbsp;Adnan Lanjawi ,&nbsp;Hind Alshuhomi ,&nbsp;Rashed Alremeithi ,&nbsp;Saif-eldin Khalil ,&nbsp;Mohamad J. Altamimi","doi":"10.1016/j.scijus.2025.101346","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.scijus.2025.101346","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Edible cannabinoid products have been in high demand for the past century due to their ease of use, discretion, and most importantly due to the induced long lasting psychoactive effect. Therefore, monitoring and analyzing THC edibles is critical. In this study, THC edibles were analyzed qualitatively using pyrolysis coupled with GC/MS as an innovative application to compare its sensitivity and effectiveness to other traditional techniques such as GC/MS, by analyzing seven different edible cannabinoids that were collected from Dubai Police Forensic Laboratories from the years 2017–2022. Pyrolysis GC/MS is known to provide an easier, and faster analysis technique and this study validates its use in the analysis of cannabis edible products. Results showed that Py-GC/MS is a reliable technique for the analysis of edible cannabinoids as a linear regression was obtained between concentration and abundance with R² = 0.99, also it was found that matrix effect was significantly reduced in comparison to GC/MS analysis. Sample preparation time and the use of chemical reagents were reduced, saving both time, cost and most importantly limiting human error impact on the analysis.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49565,"journal":{"name":"Science & Justice","volume":"65 6","pages":"Article 101346"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145416628","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Cause analysis of spontaneous combustion and self-detonation of homemade ammonium nitrate explosives","authors":"Yajun Li ,&nbsp;Xianhe Deng ,&nbsp;Zhanfang Liu ,&nbsp;Jili Zheng ,&nbsp;Guannan Zhang ,&nbsp;Hongling Guo ,&nbsp;Hongcheng Mei ,&nbsp;Can Hu ,&nbsp;Kui Wu ,&nbsp;Jun Zhu","doi":"10.1016/j.scijus.2025.101319","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.scijus.2025.101319","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>With the strict control of industrial explosives, the easy accessibility of raw materials and simple preparation methods have made homemade explosives (HMEs), especially ammonium nitrate (AN)-based HMEs, widely manufactured, sold, and used by criminals and terrorists. Fertilizers containing chemically modified AN are often employed to produce AN-HMEs. To enhance explosive power and sensitivity, criminals commonly add highly energetic substances such as potassium chlorate (KClO₃) to these fertilizers. However, due to the incompatibility of the added substances, spontaneous combustion and self-detonation often occur. The investigation of such spontaneous combustion and self-detonation is more difficult than that of explosions triggered by fire or flammable materials, as they typically arise naturally during storage without external heat source. The compositional analysis of explosive residues deposited at crime scenes is therefore of significant forensic value for subsequent crime reconstruction. Nevertheless, factors such as crystal phase, thermal properties, component compatibility in explosive mixtures, and the intermediates formed are often overlooked. In this study, an explosion during storage caused by AN-HMEs illegally mixed with KClO₃ was investigated. The composition of the explosive residues was analyzed, and simulated storage experiments were conducted under both open and closed conditions. The phase composition, thermal stability, and compatibility of the explosive mixtures in storage experiments were examined to elucidate the mechanisms of spontaneous combustion and self-detonation. Additionally, attempts were made to explain why the characteristic ClO₃⁻ ion added to the fertilizer was not detected in the residues. The results indicate that although AN and KClO₃ are thermodynamically stable individually, their mixture reduces the thermal stability of AN, revealing their incompatibility. It was demonstrated that under room temperature and closed storage conditions, AN and KClO₃ can form an unstable intermediate, ammonium chlorate (NH₄ClO₃). Subsequently, NH₄ClO₃ was synthesized, characterized, and its crystal structure analyzed via Rietveld refinement. NH₄ClO₃ decomposes at 58 °C, releasing heat that accumulates within the explosives and forms hot spots, thereby initiating detonation. Since the decomposition products are gaseous, ClO₃⁻ was not detected in the explosive residues.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49565,"journal":{"name":"Science & Justice","volume":"65 6","pages":"Article 101319"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145011301","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}