EAPSI: Improving the identification of Japanese individuals in forensic contexts

在自然灾害、武装冲突和凶杀造成的死亡之后，死者的身份识别至关重要，并取决于生物特征（性别、年龄、血统和遗体的身高）中采用的科学方法的准确性。然而，大多数生物特征分析方法是在北美针对非洲人和欧洲人后裔开发的，这些方法不太可能为亚洲人生成准确的生物特征分析。此外，美洲原住民历史上曾作为亚洲人的生物学代理，因为他们有着共同的遗传历史，这导致了美洲原住民和亚洲人共享非度量骨骼特征的假设在很大程度上未经检验。继续依赖从非亚洲人群开发的方法在法医环境中尤其成问题，因为亚洲人的遗骸可能会被发现（即，美国大城市和国际人道主义环境）。本项目将对千叶大学骨骼标本馆成人性别和血统评估中使用的非度量方法进行统计测试和改进，该标本馆由Yoshiharu Mastuno博士管理，是亚洲为数不多的有文献记载的解剖标本馆之一。拟议的研究将有助于开发更可量化和可复制的必要方法，以提高生物特征和识别未充分研究的东亚人口的准确性。由于性别是根据颅骨、锁骨、肱骨和骨盆上特征的存在或形状可靠确定的，因此将评估这些特征，并根据其稳健或纤细的表达分配一个顺序评分。将对评分和记录的性别进行统计分析，以确定最能指示男性或女性的特征，并将日本个体与北美人群中观察到的性二态性进行比较。此外，通常用于识别美洲原住民的非度量颅骨特征将被分配一个序数评分，以检验日本人个体在特征表达和频率方面与美洲原住民不同的假设。这个NSF EAPSI奖是与日本科学促进协会合作资助的。

Subsequent to deaths resulting from natural disasters, armed conflicts, and homicides, the identification of decedents is paramount and depends on the accuracy of the scientific methods employed in the biological profile (sex, age, ancestry, and stature of skeletonized remains). However, most biological profile methods were developed in North America on individuals of African and European descent, and it is unlikely that such methods can generate accurate biological profiles for Asian individuals. Moreover, Native Americans historically served as biological proxies for Asians due to their shared genetic history, resulting in the largely untested assumption that Native Americans and Asians share nonmetric skeletal features. The continued reliance on methods developed from non-Asian populations is especially problematic in forensic contexts where Asian remains are likely to be recovered (i.e., large U.S. cities and international humanitarian settings). This project will statistically test and refine the nonmetric methods used in sex and ancestry assessment for adults in the Chiba University skeletal collection, curated by Dr. Yoshiharu Mastuno, which represents one of the few documented anatomical collections in Asia. The proposed research will contribute to the development of more quantifiable and replicable methods necessary to increase the accuracy of biological profiles and identifications for an understudied East Asian population. As sex is reliably determined from the presence or shape of traits on the skull, clavicle, humerus, and pelvis, these traits will be assessed and assigned an ordinal score based on their robust or gracile expression. The scores and documented sexes will be analyzed statistically to identify the traits that best indicate male or female, and to compare the sexual dimorphism observed in Japanese individuals to North American populations. Additionally, nonmetric cranial traits commonly used to identify Native Americans will be assigned an ordinal scored to test the hypothesis that Japanese individuals differ from Native Americans in their trait expressions and frequencies. This NSF EAPSI award is funded in collaboration with the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.