title: Study on the performance of different craniofacial superimposition approaches (I).
abstract: As part of the scientific tasks coordinated throughout The 'New Methodologies and Protocols of Forensic Identification by Craniofacial Superimposition (MEPROCS)' project, the current study aims to analyse the performance of a diverse set of CFS methodologies and the corresponding technical approaches when dealing with a common dataset of real-world cases. Thus, a multiple-lab study on craniofacial superimposition has been carried out for the first time. In particular, 26 participants from 17 different institutions in 13 countries were asked to deal with 14 identification scenarios, some of them involving the comparison of multiple candidates and unknown skulls. In total, 60 craniofacial superimposition problems divided in two set of females and males. Each participant follow her/his own methodology and employed her/his particular technological means. For each single case they were asked to report the final identification decision (either positive or negative) along with the rationale supporting the decision and at least one image illustrating the overlay/superimposition outcome. This study is expected to provide important insights to better understand the most convenient characteristics of every method included in this study.
authors.affiliation: European Centre for Soft Computing, Mieres, Spain; Department of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ibáñez
authors.affiliation: Forensic Sciences Centre (CENCIFOR), Coimbra, Portugal; Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vicente
authors.affiliation: Forensic Sciences Centre (CENCIFOR), Coimbra, Portugal; Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Navega
authors.affiliation: Centre for Anatomy & Human Identification, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wilkinson
authors.affiliation: Science Program, School of Health Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, Malaysia.
authors.forename: P T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Jayaprakash
authors.affiliation: Physical Anthropology Laboratory, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: M I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Huete
authors.affiliation: South Africa Police Service, Pretoria, South Africa.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Briers
authors.affiliation: Melbourne Dental School, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hardiman
authors.affiliation: Physical Anthropology Laboratory, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Navarro
authors.affiliation: Legal Medicine School, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ruiz
authors.affiliation: Research Unit of Paleoradiology and Allied Sciences, Ospedali Riuniti di Trieste, Trieste, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cavalli
authors.affiliation: National Research lnstitute of Police Science, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Imaizumi
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Histology and Anthropology, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jankauskas
authors.affiliation: Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Veselovskaya
authors.affiliation: Main Department of Criminalistics Investigation Committee of Russia, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abramov
authors.affiliation: Department of Identification - Criminalist Services, Civil Guard, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lestón
authors.affiliation: Department of Identification - Criminalist Services, Civil Guard, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Molinero
authors.affiliation: Crime scene investigation section, Forensic Laboratory, Portuguese Criminal Police, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cardoso
authors.affiliation: Council of forensic medicine, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Çağdır
authors.affiliation: Public Ministry, Lima, Peru.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Humpire
authors.affiliation: Centre for Anatomy & Human Identification, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakanishi
authors.affiliation: Centre for Anatomy & Human Identification, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zeuner
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology and Anthropology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA.
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Ross
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio di Antropología e Odontologia Forense, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gaudio
authors.affiliation: European Centre for Soft Computing, Mieres, Spain. Electronic address: sergio.damas@softcomputing.es.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Damas
mesh_terms: D066264:Datasets as Topic; D003657:Decision Making; D005145:Face / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D018732:Forensic Anthropology / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008297:Male; D010781:Photography; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012886:Skull / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D012984:Software
keywords: Craniofacial identification; Craniofacial superimposition; Forensic anthropology; MEPROCS