在灾难受害者识别的复杂世界中,或DVI,法医学从业者使用各种调查技术来实现一个共同的目标:识别死者,关闭受影响的社区。身份识别是一项复杂的任务;事件(灾难)也可能非常复杂,因为这可能是一个急性事件,或者跨越几个月或几年的。复杂的这个时间问题,遗骸可能严重分散,分散,混合在一起,或者被肇事者或灾难本身破坏。为了帮助解决这些复杂性,我们探索在DVI事件中使用稳定同位素分析(SIA)。SIA可以与各种身体组织(头发,钉,骨头,和牙齿),每个代表死者生活中不同的时间深度。骨胶原蛋白和牙釉质碳酸盐有助于重建个人的饮食和水源,分别,导致可能的人口或地理起源决定。此外,骨胶原的碳和氮同位素特征已经计算出了内部范围。这些事实使调查人员能够使用同位素数据确定遗骸的可能来源,并可用于将骨骼元素(与个人)联系起来,或者更重要的是,表明遗骸没有联系。因此,SIA的应用可以通过从短名单中删除个人来加快遗体身份识别,连接或解耦仍然存在,减少对DNA检测的需求.这些策略和假设检验应在DVI流程的早期开始,以实现最大的有效性。
Within the complex world of disaster victim identification, or DVI, forensic science practitioners use a variety of investigative techniques to work toward a common goal: identification of the decedents, bringing closure to the affected communities. Identification is a complex undertaking; the event (disaster) also can be extraordinarily complex, as it may be an acute event, or one that spans months or years. Compounding this time issue, remains may be heavily fragmented, dispersed, commingled, or otherwise disrupted by either the perpetrators or the disaster itself. To help solve these complexities, we explore the use of stable isotope analysis (SIA) in DVI events. SIA can be used with a variety of body tissues (hair, nail, bone, and teeth), and each represents different time depths in a decedent\'s life. Bone collagen and tooth enamel carbonate are useful to reconstruct an individual\'s diet and source water intakes, respectively, leading to likely population or geographic origin determinations. Additionally, the carbon and nitrogen isotopic signatures of bone collagen have calculated intraperson ranges. These facts allow investigators to determine likely origin of remains using isotopic data and can be used to link skeletal elements (to an individual), or perhaps more importantly, show that remains are not linked. Application of SIA can thus speed remains identification by eliminating individuals from short lists for identification, linking or decoupling remains, and reducing the need for some DNA testing. These strategies and hypothesis tests should commence early in the DVI process to achieve maximum effectiveness.