Z‐Transform Method for Pairwise Osteometric Pair‐matching1, 2. Issue 1 (14th May 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Warnke‐Sommer, Julia D.; Lynch, Jeffrey James; Pawaskar, Sachin S.; Damann, Franklin E.
• Is Part Of: Journal of forensic sciences. Volume 64:Issue 1(2019)
• Page Start: 23
• Page End: 33
• Publication Date: 2018-05-14
• Subjects: forensic science -- pairwise osteometric pair‐matching -- statistics -- z‐transform test -- automation -- software; Medical jurisprudence -- Periodicals; Forensic sciences -- Periodicals; Forensic Medicine -- Periodicals; Gerechtelijke geneeskunde; Gerechtelijke chemie; Gerechtelijke psychiatrie; 363.2505
• DOI: 10.1111/1556-4029.13813
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-1198

Abstract

Abstract: A new pairwise osteometric pair‐matching approach based on the Z ‐transform method is presented. In contrast to previous methods that perform a global t ‐test on the summed skeletal element pair measurement distances, this approach performs t ‐tests on each individual distance, facilitating the capture of measurement‐specific variation. This new approach is compared to published pairwise sorting methods using a standard reference dataset of postcranial remains maintained by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis indicates significantly improved performance for the clavicle and radius over all previous methods ( p < 0.01). The z ‐transform method weighted by the effect size outperformed the t ‐test (Byrd and Adams) and the mean t ‐test (Lynch) for all elements ( p < 0.01). The method performed better than the absolute value t ‐test (Lynch) for five elements ( p < 0.01) and performed at least as well for the remainder. To facilitate usability all methods are available at:https://github.com/spawaskar-cora/z-transform-method .