Forensic Anthropology

Bu çalışma, polis tarafından ileri derecede çürümüş halde bir poşet içerisinde bulunan ve incelenmek üzere Dr. Burhan Nalbantoğlu Devlet Hastanesi, Adli Tıp Birimi’ne getirilen kimliği, etnik kökeni, yaşı, boyu, cinsiyeti bilinmeyen bir ceset üzerinde biyolojik profil, ölüm şekli ve ölüm zamanı belirlemek amacıyla uygulanan adli tıp, adli antropoloji ve adli entomoloji bilimlerinin metot ve tekniklerini içermektedir.

After attending this presentation, attendees will better understand how forensic anthropologists currently perceive diversity and inclusion in the Anthropology Section.
This presentation will impact forensic science by demonstrating the importance of diversity and inclusion, and how it can benefit the forensic anthropology community. Additionally, this presentation will outline the development of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee within the Anthropology Section, as well as its primary objectives, survey results, and proposals of how individuals and institutions can increase diversity at multiple levels within applied and academic contexts.   
Diversity and inclusion has proven to be an asset for individual and group performance, growth, development, and success in business and academia through principles of flexibility, equifinality, and respect for differences. Research demonstrates that diverse communities or workforces result in sustained competitive advantages through increased innovation and creativity. In 2017, the President of the AAFS Anthropology Section created an ad hoc committee to critically explore the current state of diversity within forensic anthropology. In 2018, this ad hoc committee was enthusiastically changed to a permanent Diversity and Inclusion Committee by voting members (AAFS created a similar Diversity and Outreach Committee in 2015 to develop comprehensive strategies to support diversity and promote collaboration, professionalism, and integrity). Primary objectives of the Committee include assessing diversity-related concerns of the Section, promoting inclusiveness, acting as an advocate for underrepresented individuals in forensic science, and promoting diversity-related resources for all Section members. This venture importantly parallels committees formed by closely aligned professional organizations, including the American Association of Physical Anthropologists and the Society for American Archaeology, and thus has the advantage of observing how diversity and inclusion movements in similar organizations have successfully resulted in innovation, renewal, and growth.
In order to evaluate the current state of diversity and inclusion in forensic anthropology, the Committee created and distributed an Institutional Review Board-approved survey to all members of the Anthropology Section (University of South Florida proposal #00032513). Of the 220 participants, ages range from 18-85+ years, with most being 25-44 years old (58.8%), who hold various degrees/certifications, including B.A./B.S. (13.3%), M.A./M.S. (26.1%), Ph.D. (28.0%), M.D./Ph.D. (12.8%), and Ph.D./Diplomate status in the American Board of Forensic Anthropology (19.9%). Of the respondents, only 30.9% self-identify as a member of an underrepresented group, including African American, Native American, Asian, Hispanic/Latinx, LGBTQ+, and/or disabled. Heterogeneity is believed to be the greatest at the undergraduate level, with diversity decreasing in vertical movement through graduate, postdoctoral, and/or professional statuses. Overall, the majority (63.9%) of respondents believe that forensic anthropology exhibits little diversity; this lack of diversity is considered problematic to 73.4% of respondents, while 84.3% believe the Section should do more to recruit and maintain diverse forensic anthropologists.
While 90.6% of respondents feel accepted within the Anthropology section, discrimination is an issue: 24.0% of respondents have experienced discrimination, while 46.3% have witnessed discrimination in the Section. Issues of discrimination, disrespect, and exclusion can have a particularly negative effect on our community, as it can lead to attrition of those with diverse backgrounds and perspectives. Furthermore, these figures are especially worrisome since 59.9% of respondents do not know how to report incidents of discrimination within the Section.
Similar to comparable endeavors in other scientific and non-scientific contexts, we contend that diversifying forensic anthropology through outreach and inclusion of persons with unique backgrounds and life experiences will ultimately benefit our science.  While we recognize a strong tradition of scientific integrity in forensic anthropology, our community’s homogeneity, exclusivity, and competitive nature may make us blind to assumptions in our scientific interpretations. We believe diversity and inclusion in research and practice permits greater innovation, and the propensity to critically examine our assumptions, particularly as they relate to the complex and dynamic populations that we serve.  This study demonstrates that our scientific community faces two major hurdles in this venture: recruitment and retention of diverse members. Through thoughtful and concerted efforts to value diversity during graduate school selection and hiring processes, to support mentorship programs, and to foster an environment of respect and acceptance in our Section, the Diversity and Inclusion Committee believes forensic anthropology can greatly improve and serve as a successful model within the forensic sciences.

Introduction The goal of this presentation is to define and explain two perimortem blunt fracture characteristics in bone to contribute to the determination of peri-or postmortem timing of the fracture: bone tear and bone spurs and notches. In order to interpret these characteristics, an understanding of bone biomechanics, primarily the forces of tension and compression is required. In general terms, bone fails in tension as forces simply pull bone apart, while compression forces compress bone together. Since dense cortical bone is much weaker in tension, initial failure is usually indicative of tension. The traditional interpretation of blunt force "butterfly fractures" exemplifies using the utility of tension and compression forces to assess directionality. Here we argue that fracture surface morphology adds additional information which can be used, even in incomplete or poorly preserved remains, to examine perimortem blunt fracture circumstances.

The histological analysis of bone for forensic application requires thin sections to be prepared from extracted bone of suitable quality for visualization through conventional light microscopy and (if required) the measurement of microstruc-tural features, such as osteons. While a number of protocols for the preparation of thin sections exist, they are often time consuming and complex, or require expensive and non-portable equipment. A revised protocol is presented for obtaining high quality thin sections for light microscopy and histological analyses , tested in fresh, fixed, and dry archaeological cortical bone. It does not require extensive experience, or expensive materials or equipment, and can be further adapted for use with manual tools if necessary.

The histological analysis of bone for forensic application requires thin sections to be prepared from extracted bone of suitable quality for visualisation through conventional light microscopy and (if required) the measurement of microstructural features, such as osteons. There are a number of protocols available for the preparation of cortical bone thin sections; however they usually involve multiple complicated steps, in addition to requiring specific (and often expensive) equipment or a dedicated histopathology laboratory. The preparation of a sample for histological analysis may involve any or all of the following steps: fixation; dehydration; impregnation (typically under vacuum); embedding; cutting; grinding/polishing; and mounting for microscopy. As a result histological preparation can be particularly time consuming dependent on the number of steps in the protocol, and the fixation, drying and embedding resin curing time. Expensive and/or non-portable equipment and extensive preparation times make most protocols unsuitable for application in a field laboratory, while the cost of most histopathology equipment such as microtomes and resin impregnation and embedding systems can be prohibitive.

In this presentation we describe a revised protocol for obtaining high quality thin sections for light microscopy and histological analyses in fresh or fixed cortical bone. The method has been simplified and does not require extensive experience, expensive materials or equipment. The proposed protocol was tested first on a sample of fresh kangaroo bone and formalin fixed canine bone, before being applied to formalin fixed human bone and dry archaeological human bone specimens. The described method reduces the number of steps involved in preparation of thin sections from fresh or fixed cortical bone. It can be used for more fragile dry or archaeological material with additional preparation. The method does not require expensive histology equipment or a dedicated histopathology laboratory and can thus be adapted for use in a field laboratory setting.

Sex, age, and body height are of fundamental importance in the identification of individuals in medicolegal investigations. Body height can be calculated more accurately from the measurements of main long bones of upper and lower limbs. In case of a lack of limb segments or the long bones of the extremities, the dimensions of the head, face, and sternum are thought to be good predictors for living stature. In the present study, the correlation between the measurements of the head, face and sternum and body height was examined and univariate and multivariate regression equations were developed. Anthropo-metric measurements were taken on 108 healthy male subjects with a mean age of 22.4 years (SD = 3.35 years). Equations were constructed based on the measurements taken from the study group (Group I, n = 54) and tested on a cross validation group (Group II, n = 54). The univariate analyses revealed that the measurements studied could not be used for estimating body height. With multivariate equations considered, the best predictors for stature are sternum length and total face height. Therefore, it is concluded that the only way to estimate stature reliably are the latter two variables combined when the cranium and sternum were brought for medicolegal examinations. Duyar et al. Euras J Anthropol 9(2):49-56, 2018 50