Browsing by Author "Harrison, K."

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    Ballistic extremity wounding : quantifying tissue damage associated with military firearms
    (2018) Stevenson, Tom; Carr, Debra J.; Harrison, K.; Critchley, Richard; Shortland, Andrew J.
    Gunshot wounding (GSW) is often the second most common mechanism of injury after explosive in war. With a large proportion of survivors typically suffering with extremity wounds, the clinical burden is often substantial. Following the recent Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, this work set out to ascertain the clinical burden of GSW suffered by UK military personnel. A critical literature gap uncovered was pertaining to the effect of clothing on GSW patterns. A synthetic limb model was used to test the effect of UK military clothing on GSW patterns in a maximal and minimal state, as worn by front-line service personnel, using 7.62 x 39 mm and 5.45 x 39 mm ammunition types. Further work was then undertaken to develop a technique to facilitate precise examination of GSW patterns within an opaque target. Lastly, this led to the development of a cadaveric animal limb model to test the same military clothing states as with the synthetic model. Increased damage was found in the presence of the maximal clothing state within both models, which would translate clinically into a wound requiring more extensive surgical intervention. The relevance of these findings, along with critical appraisal of each model used are then discussed, with further work proposed.
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    Development of a synthetic bone and tissue model to simulate overmatch military ballistic head injury
    (2018) Mahoney, Peter F.; Carr, Debra J.; Harrison, K.; Critchley, Richard
    A synthetic bone and tissue head model was built using sequential experiments and tested against impacts with 7.62 x 39 mm MSC ammunition. The key experiment in this series was a forensic reconstruction of two military head injury gunshot wounds. One of the models produced a good representation of the incident. The other was less accurate but did produce a good representation of tangential gunshot wounds. Further work assessed the model against a contact gunshot injury with 5.56 x 45 mm ammunition and looked at the effects of intermediate glass and transparent thermoplastic targets on the wounds produced by 7.62 x 39 mm impacts. Strengths and weaknesses of the model are discussed and further work suggested.
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    A multi proxy investigation into the effects of burial environments on nuclear DNA in bone over forensic and archaeological timescales
    (2016-10-03) Harrison, D. L.; Harrison, K.
    This research conducted a two-pronged approach to study the effects of taphonomic processes by conducting analysis of experimental burials of porcine femora and parallel analysis of ancient human archaeological remains from geologically distinct cemeteries. The aim of this study was to identify the major degradative factors from depositional environments that affect the bone composition and the retention and retrieval of nucleic DNA from archaeological bone. Four different experimental burial environments of clay, compost, lime and sand were designed, displaying different properties of soil type, pH, water content and organic content. Analysis of the burial mediums and bones were conducted at regular intervals over an 18 month period. Observations of changes in the burial medium, comparisons of the rates and degree of soft tissue decomposition, bone diagenesis from compositional assessment, and bone colour change were made and analysed in correspondence with the different environments. The analytical data collected on the diagenesis of the archaeological bone from both studies, was compared to the DNA profiling success rates. The research and optimisation of sample preparation and DNA analysis enabled the most cost-effective and appropriate methods to be identified and utilised in accordance with the preservation state of the bone samples. This allowed the analysis of ancient archaeological bone to be analysed in-line with forensic protocols, to enable a uniform accessible approach to produce comparable results across different laboratories. Drawing together the results from the various analytical techniques made it possible to identify the variables that affect bone diagenesis and the survival of nuclear DNA, and provide evidence that the rate of decomposition and bone degradation is affected more significantly by the burial environment than duration of burial, as stated in the research hypothesis. The presence of water, sand and the level of organic content were found to be the most degradative variables within the experimental burial conditions; causing changes in bone crystallinity, and infiltration of contaminants into the bone. The presence of lime, chalk or limestone in an environment was found to have preserving properties in both the porcine and human burials, by retarding the rate and degree of soft tissue decomposition, and reducing the diagenetic changes in bone composition evident from the other environments. Despite previous reports of success using analytical techniques as predictive models for DNA and bone preservation, no correlations with DNA survival could be established. However the use of a multi-disciplinary approach enabled the detection and identification of soil contaminants affecting the bone structure and the ability to amplify DNA, in relation to burial environments. This research highlighted the importance of utilising multiple analytical techniques, such as colourimetry, ATR-FTIR, XRF and genetic analysis in order to avoid misinterpretation and false reporting of the state of bone diagenesis or preservation and the survival of DNA, due to environmental contaminants within the hard tissue. The research confirms the idea that in order to establish optimised sampling and DNA analysis of archaeological bone, it is imperative that certain protocols are adhered to. Precautions must be implemented from excavation through to laboratory analysis to avoid contamination; and correct recording of burial environment is essential to enable consideration of extrinsic factors and contaminants when reporting results.
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    A pilot study examining garment severance damage caused by a trained sharp-weapon user
    (2016-07-04) Cowper, E. J.; Mahoney, Peter F.; Godhania, K.; Carr, Debra J.; Harrison, K.
    The pilot study summarized in this paper aimed to raise awareness of a gap that exists in the forensic textile science literature about damage caused to clothing by trained sharp-weapon users. A male trained in the Filipino martial arts discipline of Eskrima performed attack techniques on a physical model of a male torso covered with a 97% cotton/3% elastane knitted T-shirt, that is, a garment commonly worn by males. Fabric severance appearance created by three different, but commonly available, knives was evaluated. High-speed video was used to capture each attack. After each attack the resulting damage to the garment was assessed. This pilot study highlighted differences in severances associated with weapon selection, that is, not all knives resulted in similar patterns of textile damage. In addition, a mixture of stab and slash severances were observed. The findings demonstrated the possible misinterpretation of textile damage under these circumstances compared to damage patterns reported in the existing forensic textile science literature for more commonly occurring knife attacks (i.e. stabbings).
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    Skeletal sexing standards of human remains in Turkey
    (2017-08-04) Gulhan, O.; Harrison, K.
    The identification of victims involved in mass fatality incidents, as well as the identification of unknown individuals in criminal cases has become an increasingly important issue nowadays. Sex assessment represents a key point in forensic evaluations due to its significance in providing biological identity. Even though the availability of documented skeletal remains to forensic practitioners is a common practice in many countries, in Turkey, contemporary documented skeletal remains are not available for this purpose. For this reason, studies have been focused on living populations. Previous research has shown that modern technologies such as CT scanning present very promising potential in establishing new standards for contemporary populations. Therefore, the main aim of this project was to examine the application of the measurements taken from 3D CT images of the femur in order to assess sex, and to contribute to the establishment of discriminant function equations for the Turkish population for forensic applications. The accuracy and reproducibility of imaging methods in the assessment of the measurements taken from femora are essential when estimating sex. This research also concentrated on determining the accuracy and repeatability of CT measurements, using the femur. Prior to primary data collection, a preliminary study was performed in an effort to test the reliability of the femur measurements. The results of reliability analysis indicated no significant difference between the three observations of each measurement. Thus, the methodology employed in the current study appears reliable and reproducible. In addition, a validation study was conducted to determine the linear measurement accuracy of the 3D volume rendering models derived from a medical CT scanner and the influence of different reconstruction parameters. The differences between measurements obtained from dry bones and their 3D volume rendered models were also evaluated. The results from this study indicated that there were no statistically significant differences between measurements taken from different reconstruction parameters and measurements obtained from CT images and drybones. Using the CT data, volume-rendering function (VR), 3D Curved Multiplanar reconstruction (MPR), and Scout View on OsiriX were employed in order to compare the accuracy and reliability of each rendering method and to determine which technique is optimal for linear measurements. Overall, the measurements taken from the 3D Volume Rendering images had the highest intra-observer reliability when compared to the other two rendering methods. This research study produced data and interpretations that will inform on and improve population specific standards of sex assessment from three-dimensional postcranial osteometric landmarks. Additionally, this research is believed to provide value for a developing discipline of forensic anthropology, and integrate within the existing systems of criminal investigation and disaster victim identification practices in Turkey. A Turkish sample population, consisting of 300 adult hospital patients was examined via the interpretation of CT reconstructed images using the OsiriX software. The 3D reconstructions were then created using the volume-rendering function in OsiriX (v.5.6.). Following the 3D reconstruction, an image of each femur was segmented from the surrounding bones to ensure the correct usage of landmarks as accurately as possible. Thirteen measurements were acquired using a 3D viewer after being located and marked on each CT reconstructed femora. These thirteen anthropometric parameters were measured and analysed by basic descriptive statistics and discriminant analysis methods using the SPSS 21.0 software package. The intra-observer variation was assessed by obtaining the intraclass correlation coefficient in order to evaluate the accuracy of the linear measurements taken. Asymmetry was also tested. The results indicated that an accuracy of 92.3% was acquired from a combination of six of the measurements, and the Femur Vertical Diameter of Neck (FVDN) measurement was found to be the most dimorphic with 88.0% accuracy.