Analysis of STR loci in Cartagena, a Caribbean city of Colombia

Allele frequencies, together with some parameters of forensic interest were estimated for nine STRs included in the AmpF/STR Profiler kit (CSF1PO, D3S1358, D5S818, D7S820, D13S317, FGA, TH01, TPOX and vWA) in a sample of 215 unrelated individuals from Cartagena (Colombia). For all loci, no significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were observed. Comparative analysis results between our data and those from other Colombian and African population samples revealed significant differences, except with two Colombian Caribbean Coast sub-regions.     

Experimental Study of Bite Mark Injuries by Digital Analysis

Abstract: This study was based on a morphometric analysis of bite marks starting from the quantitative definition of the anterior teeth by the geometric acquisition of the “injuries,” using bite marks impressed on pig skin and plastic. Each mark was photographed and acquired. A dedicated program automatically supplied the values of the shape factors and the areas of the pattern geometric figures. The values obtained for the homologous samples were compared to the heterologous values. Statistical comparison was made of the sets by linear regression, determining the correlation coefficient and the determination coefficient for each value. Results showed only 4.8% and 2% of overlap between homologous and heterologous values. This study was carried out in attempting to quantitatively define the anterior teeth of the human dentition and the procedure described and the results obtained support the advantage of morphometric studies and computer‐aided programs in this study of bite marks.     

Memory and taste in the collections and households of the Spanish nobility (nineteenth and early twentieth centuries): an introduction to the topic with some notes on the house of Osuna and the origins of the period room

“Albeit democratic, their coat of arms has pride of place”. Thus Romualdo Nogués defined, in 1890, Spanish collectors of bourgeois origin who had joined the ranks of the aristocracy. A few years later, in 1924, the Duke of Alba’s maiden speech at the Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando justified his personal artistic worthiness on the basis of his ancestors’ collecting activities and the artworks they had amassed.

These two examples set the scene for the research questions studied in this monographic issue. The present introduction offers a bird’s eye view of the phenomenon and continues with a few remarks about the House of Osuna which, as is well known, occupied a pivotal position in Spanish nobility during the whole of the second half of the nineteenth century.     

The effect of exposure to the elements on the forensic characterization by infrared spectroscopy of poly(ethylene terephthalate) fibers

Validation of a recently proposed differentiation method for single poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET) fibers, based on integration of IR absorption bands, is presented. IR microscopy in the transmission mode, differential scanning calorimetry and optical microscopy were employed. The reliability of the technique has been extended to the cases in which the fibers being compared have experienced long exposure to the elements, as may happen if these items are recovered from open-air crime scenes. The effect of immersion in water and irradiation by the sun for a three-month period have been considered. The fibers remained morphologically and structurally unaltered. The significance of comparisons between fibers kept in different environments is thus enhanced, because the detrimental effect of the elements can be ruled out. This further validation of the proposed technique contributes to render the data presented by the forensic scientist less vulnerable to context effect and bias.