The probative character of Forensic Handwriting Examiners’ identification and elimination opinions on questioned signatures

Στο καινούργιο τευχος του Forensic Science International (Volume 178, Issue 1, Pages 1-82 (10 June 2008)), οι Bryan Found και Doug Rogers παρουσιάζει μια εργασία με τίτλο: " The probative character of Forensic Handwriting Examiners’ identification and elimination opinions on questioned signatures "

In the new Issue of Forensic Science International (Volume 178, Issue 1, Pages 1-82 (10 June 2008)), Bryan Found and Doug Rogers present a paper titled:" The probative character of Forensic Handwriting Examiners’ identification and elimination opinions on questioned signatures "

Περίληψη/Abstract: Τhis 5-year study investigated the character of Forensic Handwriting Examiners’ (FHEs) authorship opinions on questioned signatures through the medium of blind validation trials. Twenty-nine thousand eight hundred and eleven authorship opinions were expressed by FHEs on trial kits comprising randomized questioned genuine signatures (written by the specimen writer), disguised signatures (written by the specimen writer) and simulated signatures (not written by the specimen writer). Results showed that, as a group, FHEs were significantly more confident at identifying writers’ genuine signatures than identifying writers’ disguised signatures or eliminating specimen writers from having authored simulated signatures. It is proposed that the difference in FHE confidence arises from the difficulty they have in deciding which alternative authorship explanation accounts for perceived combinations of similar and dissimilar features between specimen and questioned signatures.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2008.02.004

Passport examination by a confocal-type laser profile microscope

Στο καινούργιο τευχος του Forensic Science International (Volume 178, Issue 1, Pages 1-82 (10 June 2008)), ο Shigeru Sugawara παρουσιάζει μια εργασία με τίτλο: "Passport examination by a confocal-type laser profile microscope "

In the new Issue of Forensic Science International (Volume 178, Issue 1, Pages 1-82 (10 June 2008)), Shigeru Sugawara present a paper titled:"Passport examination by a confocal-type laser profile microscope "

Περίληψη/Abstract: The author proposes a nondestructive and highly precise method of measuring the thickness of a film pasted on a passport using a confocal-type laser profile microscope. The effectiveness of this method in passport examination is demonstrated. A confocal-type laser profile microscope is used to create profiles of the film surface and film–paper interface; these profiles are used to calculate the film thickness by employing an algorithm developed by the author. The film thicknesses of the passport samples—35 genuine and 80 counterfeit Japanese passports—are measured nondestructively. The intra-sample standard deviation of the film thicknesses of the genuine and counterfeit Japanese passports was of the order of 1 μm The intersample standard deviations of the film thicknesses of passports forged using the same tools and techniques are expected to be of the order of 1 μm. The thickness values of the films on the machine-readable genuine passports ranged between 31.95 μm and 36.95 μm. The likelihood ratio of this method in the authentication of machine-readable Japanese genuine passports is 11.7. Therefore, this method is effective for the authentification of genuine passports. Since the distribution of the film thickness of all forged passports was considerably larger than the accuracy of this method, this method is considered effective also for revealing the relation among the forged passports and acquiring proof of the crime.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2008.02.004

Micro-Raman analysis for the identification of pigments from 19th and 20th century paintings

Στο καινούργιο τευχος του Journal of Raman Spectroscopy (May 2008), οι Cristina L. Aibéo, Stien Goffin, Olivier Schalm, Geert van der Snickt, Nathalie Laquière, Peter Eyskens & Koen Janssens παρουσιάζουν μια εργασία με τίτλο: "Μικροσκοπική φασματοσκοπία Raman για την ταυτοποίηση βαφών σε έργα τέχνης του 19ου και 20ου αιώνα/ Micro-Raman analysis for the identification of pigments from 19th and 20th century paintings ".

In the new Issue of Journal of Raman Spectroscopy (May 2008), Cristina L. Aibéo, Stien Goffin, Olivier Schalm, Geert van der Snickt, Nathalie Laquière, Peter Eyskens & Koen Janssens present a paper titled: "Micro-Raman analysis for the identification of pigments from 19th and 20th century paintings".

Περίληψη/Abstract: In this article, results using confocal µ-Raman to analyse the cross-section of paint samples are presented. Results obtained with light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) combined with an energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and micro-X-ray fluorescence (µ-XRF) are mentioned and compared to the ones obtained with confocal (MRS). In some cases, pigment identification was possible only by combining analytical results from different techniques.The samples were drawn from five paintings belonging to the Academy of Fine Arts of Antwerp, which are part of a collection of 34 paintings made by students from the Academy between 1819 and 1920. Since, on the one hand, the painting techniques and materials, especially pigments, used in this period are still not completely known, and on the other hand, this collection constitutes a very important and reliable resource of information, these paintings were chosen for a systematic investigation. They represent the evolution of painting in Belgium over approximately a century.

Article

Raman spectroscopy of synthetic organic pigments used in 20th century works of art

Στο καινούργιο τευχος του Journal of Raman Spectroscopy (May 2008), οι Franziska Schulte, Klaus-Werner Brzezinka, Karin Lutzenberger, Heike Stege & Ulrich Panne παρουσιάζουν μια εργασία με τίτλο: "Φασματοσκοπία Raman συνθετικών οργανικών βαφών που χρησιμοποιήθηκαν σε έργα τέχνης του 20ου αιώνα / Raman spectroscopy of synthetic organic pigments used in 20th century works of art ".

In the new Issue of Journal of Raman Spectroscopy (May 2008), Franziska Schulte, Klaus-Werner Brzezinka, Karin Lutzenberger, Heike Stege & Ulrich Panne present a paper titled: "Raman spectroscopy of synthetic organic pigments used in 20th century works of art".

Περίληψη/Abstract: Raman microscopy allows a non-destructive characterisation of inorganic and organic painting materials such as pigments and organic dyestuffs. The objectives of this study are the more recent organic pigments typically present in paintings and other art works from the 20th century. More than 20 organic synthetic pigments from different chemical classes could be identified by Raman spectroscopy using different excitation wavelengths (457.9, 476.5, 487.9, 514.5, 632.8, and 1064 nm). To evaluate the performance for real paint samples, varying paint mixtures of the Hansa Yellow pigment PY 3 and the binding medium Mowilith, a polyvinyl acetate (PVAC) compound, were characterised; PY 3 was determined at a 1 wt% level in the binder. In addition, commercial tube paints containing the quinacridone violet PV 19 were studied. The pigment was clearly identified in all of these more complex oil and acrylic paints. Finally, alizarin (PR 83) and a green copper phthalocyanine pigment (PG 7) could unambiguously be identified by Raman microscopy in the painting Woman with mandolin in yellow and red of Max Beckmann dating 1950. The discovery of a red naphthol AS pigment by Raman spectroscopy in a sample from the Three field workers by Georg Baselitz (1964/1965) demonstrated that in some cases complementary chromatographic methods are needed for a comprehensive identification of the organic pigments.

Article

Ηλεκτρονικό Διαβατήριο από την Samsung / ePassport from Samsung

Σύμφωνα με τον ιστότοπο http://www.securitydocumentworld.com η Samsung σε συνεργασία με την γερμανική Bundesdruckerei παρουσίασαν ένα εύκαμπτο διαβατήριο με ηλεκτρονική LED οθόνη.
Από το securitydocumentworld.com:
Tommorow’s ID documents will work without contact and without internal batteries. The integration of a display makes electronic ID documents even more difficult to forge and opens up the way for new security applications, they claim.

Samsung SDI developed the display to be just 300µm thick. However, even with the integrated colour display, the data page of the ePassport is still only 700µm thick, the companies claim.

The display comprises an active matrix display with organic light emitting diodes (AMOLED). This means that located behind every pixel of the display is an active electronic circuit with low power consumption. AMOLED displays are said to provide excellent colour images and can be produced in much thinner formats that conventional LCDs.

The materials used for the display are heat-resistant, so that the passport card can be laminated and hence protected against manipulation.

Identification of iron-gall inks with near-infrared Raman microspectroscopy

Στο καινούργιο τευχος του Journal of Raman Spectroscopy (May 2008), οι Alana S. Lee, Vincent Otieno-Alego & Dudley C. Creagh παρουσιάζουν μια εργασία με τίτλο: "Ταυτοποίηση μελανιών μεταλλικής ακίδας με near-infrared Raman μικρο-φασματοσκοπία μεταλικής Identification of iron-gall inks with near-infrared Raman microspectroscopy ".

In the new Issue of Journal of Raman Spectroscopy (May 2008), Alana S. Lee, Vincent Otieno-Alego and Dudley C. Creagh present a paper titled: "Identification of iron-gall inks with near-infrared Raman microspectroscopy".

Περίληψη/Abstract: The identification of iron-gall inks on a number of 18th, 19th, and 20th century documents and a 12th century manuscript has been conducted using near-infrared Raman microspectroscopy. These historic iron-gall inks were found to display characteristic Raman bands generally occurring around 1475 cm^-1, between 1310 and 1350 cm^-1 (variable), 490-640 cm^-1 (combined broad band), and 400 cm^-1. These bands have promise as analytical spectroscopic markers for in situ non-destructive Raman identification of iron-gall ink on historic collections and were in good agreement with Raman data collected for laboratory-prepared iron-gall ink complexes and inks prepared following traditional iron-gall ink recipes. All historic ink spectra contained a fluorescent background, the degree of which varied between samples.

Article

Εξαλείψιμο χαρτί από την Xerox /Erasable paper by Xerox

H XEROX ανακοίνωσε την κατασκευή του πρώτου εξαλείψημου χαρτιού, το οποίο αναμένεται να κυκλοφορήσει σε ένα χρόνο.

Το χαρτί αυτό σβήνει μόνο του μετά από 16 me 24 ώρες περίπου, ώστε να μπορεί να επαναχρησιμοποιηθεί ξανά και ξανά.

Περισσότερα από το επίσημο site της XEROX:
Experimental Xerox Paper Erases Itself, Results In Temporary Documents On Reusable Paper
http://www.xerox.com/innovation/exp_paper.shtml

(Η φωτογραφία είναι από το site της ΧΕROX.)