Home  About us  Contact
 

Evidential Value (evidential + value)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Chemistry60%
Humanities and Social Sciences40%

Selected Abstracts

Evaluation of the evidential value of physicochemical data by a Bayesian network approach

JOURNAL OF CHEMOMETRICS, Issue 7-8 2010
Grzegorz Zadora
Abstract The growing interest in applications of Bayesian networks (BNs) in forensic science raises the question of whether BN could be used in forensic practice for the evaluation of results from physicochemical analysis of a limited number of observations from flammable liquids (weathered kerosene and diesel fuel) by automated thermal desorption gas chromatography mass spectrometry (ATD-GC/MS), car paints by pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) and fibres by microspectrophotometry (MSP) in the visible (VIS) range. Therefore, various simple BN models, which allow the evaluation of both discrete and continuous types of data, were studied in order to address questions raised by the representatives of the administration of justice, concerning the identification and classification of objects into certain categories and/or the association between two items. The results of the evaluation performed by BN models were expressed in the form of a likelihood ratio, which is a well-documented measure of evidential value in the forensic field. From the results obtained, it can be concluded that BN models seem to be promising tool for evaluating physicochemical data. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Computation of Likelihood Ratios in Fingerprint Identification for Configurations of Any Number of Minutiæ

JOURNAL OF FORENSIC SCIENCES, Issue 1 2007
Cédric Neumann M.Sc.
ABSTRACT: Recent court challenges have highlighted the need for statistical research on fingerprint identification. This paper proposes a model for computing likelihood ratios (LRs) to assess the evidential value of comparisons with any number of minutiæ. The model considers minutiae type, direction and relative spatial relationships. It expands on previous work on three minutiae by adopting a spatial modeling using radial triangulation and a probabilistic distortion model for assessing the numerator of the LR. The model has been tested on a sample of 686 ulnar loops and 204 arches. Features vectors used for statistical analysis have been obtained following a preprocessing step based on Gabor filtering and image processing to extract minutiae data. The metric used to assess similarity between two feature vectors is based on an Euclidean distance measure. Tippett plots and rates of misleading evidence have been used as performance indicators of the model. The model has shown encouraging behavior with low rates of misleading evidence and a LR power of the model increasing significantly with the number of minutiæ. The LRs that it provides are highly indicative of identity of source on a significant proportion of cases, even when considering configurations with few minutiæ. In contrast with previous research, the model, in addition to minutia type and direction, incorporates spatial relationships of minutiæ without introducing probabilistic independence assumptions. The model also accounts for finger distortion. [source]

The Textual Criticism of Middle English Manuscript Traditions: A Survey of Critical Issues in the Interpretation of Textual Data

LITERATURE COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 6 2009
Gavin Cole
This essay is intended to survey two broad issues which determine the use of textual data. The first is the underlying orientation towards the use of textual data and how this relates to critical evaluations of agency, authority and materiality. This essay surveys two broad orientations: (i) an essentially retrospective genetic orientation and, (ii) an orientation which focuses on the phenomenon of change. Both approaches are dependent on the ability to distinguish original readings from scribal readings, identify genetic relationships and account for acts of horizontal transmission. With this in mind, the second issue with which this essay is concerned is the importance of critical interpretation in the categorisation of textual data. This essay argues that textual criticism is a practical demonstration of the difficulties of interpretation and that no textual data ,has any real evidential value until it has been interpreted' (Patterson 90). [source]

WHEN IS PARSIMONY A VIRTUE?

THE PHILOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY, Issue 235 2009
Michael Huemer
Parsimony is a virtue of empirical theories. Is it also a virtue of philosophical theories? I review four contemporary accounts of the virtue of parsimony in empirical theorizing, and consider how each might apply to two prominent appeals to parsimony in the philosophical literature, those made on behalf of physicalism and on behalf of nominalism. None of the accounts of the virtue of parsimony extends naturally to either of these philosophical cases. This suggests that in typical philosophical contexts, ontological simplicity has no evidential value. [source]