Use of pattern recognition and neural networks for non-metric sex diagnosis from lateral shape of calvarium: an innovative model for computer-aided diagnosis in forensic and physical anthropology.

Journal: International journal of legal medicine
Published Date:

Abstract

Sex determination on skeletal remains is one of the most important diagnosis in forensic cases and in demographic studies on ancient populations. Our purpose is to realize an automatic operator-independent method to determine the sex from the bone shape and to test an intelligent, automatic pattern recognition system in an anthropological domain. Our multiple-classifier system is based exclusively on the morphological variants of a curve that represents the sagittal profile of the calvarium, modeled via artificial neural networks, and yields an accuracy higher than 80 %. The application of this system to other bone profiles is expected to further improve the sensibility of the methodology.

Authors

  • Fabio Cavalli
    Research Unit of Paleoradiology and Allied Sciences, LTS - SCIT, Integrated University Health Unit of Trieste, via della Pietà 2/1, 34100, Trieste, Italy. fabio.cavalli@aots.sanita.fvg.it.
  • Luca Lusnig
    Research Unit of Paleoradiology and Allied Sciences, LTS - SCIT, Integrated University Health Unit of Trieste, via della Pietà 2/1, 34100, Trieste, Italy.
  • Edmondo Trentin
    Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Informazione e Scienze Matematiche, Università di Siena, Via Roma 56, 53100, Siena, Italy.