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Temperature-based time of death estimation (TTDE) using simulation methods such as the finite element (FE) method promises higher accuracy and broader applicability in nonstandard cooling scenarios than established phenomenological methods. Their accuracy depends crucially on the simulation model to capture the actual situation. The model fidelity in turn hinges on the representation of the corpse’s anatomy in form of computational meshes as well as on the thermodynamic parameters.
While inaccuracies in anatomy representation due to coarse mesh resolution are known to have a minor impact on the estimated time of death, the sensitivity with respect to larger differences in the anatomy has so far not been studied. We assess this sensitivity by comparing four independently generated and vastly different anatomical models in terms of the estimated time of death in an identical cooling scenario. In order to isolate the impact of shape variation, the models are scaled to a reference size, and the possible impact of measurement location variation is excluded explicitly, which gives a lower bound on the impact of anatomy on the estimated time of death.
Rectal temperature measurement (RTM) from crime scenes is an important parameter for temperature-based time of death estimation (TDE). Various influential variables exist in TDE methods like the uncertainty in thermal and environmental parameters. Although RTM depends in particular on the location of measurement position, this relationship has never been investigated separately. The presented study fills this gap using Finite Element (FE) simulations of body cooling. A manually meshed coarse human FE model and an FE geometry model developed from the CT scan of a male corpse are used for TDE sensitivity analysis. The coarse model is considered with and without a support structure of moist soil. As there is no clear definition of ideal rectal temperature measurement location for TDE, possible variations in RTM location (RTML) are considered based on anatomy and forensic practice. The maximum variation of TDE caused by RTML changes is investigated via FE simulation. Moreover, the influence of ambient temperature, of FE model change and of the models positioning on a wet soil underground are also discussed. As a general outcome, we notice that maximum TDE deviations of up to ca. 2-3 h due to RTML deviations have to be expected. The direction of maximum influence of RTML change on TDE generally was on the line caudal to cranial.
Geometric predicates are at the core of many algorithms, such as the construction of Delaunay triangulations, mesh processing and spatial relation tests.
These algorithms have applications in scientific computing, geographic information systems and computer-aided design.
With floating-point arithmetic, these geometric predicates can incur round-off errors that may lead to incorrect results and inconsistencies, causing computations to fail.
This issue has been addressed using a combination of exact arithmetic for robustness and floating-point filters to mitigate the computational cost of exact computations.
The implementation of exact computations and floating-point filters can be a difficult task, and code generation tools have been proposed to address this.
We present a new C++ meta-programming framework for the generation of fast, robust predicates for arbitrary geometric predicates based on polynomial expressions.
We combine and extend different approaches to filtering, branch reduction, and overflow avoidance that have previously been proposed.
We show examples of how this approach produces correct results for data sets that could lead to incorrect predicate results with naive implementations.
Our benchmark results demonstrate that our implementation surpasses state-of-the-art implementations.
This thesis examines how taking into account surface to surface radiation
impacts the cooling process in general. We formulate the non local bound-
ary condition after introducing the general setting for the cooling model. In
section 3, the mathematical description of the radiative heat transfer is dis-
cussed. We cover the implementation of the radiative matrix in section 4,
which is followed by a brief explanation of the radiative matrix’s structure
and several techniques to dealing with the accompanying challenges.
We investigate the importance of radiative heat transport by applying the
given approach to a two-dimensional geometry and computing the ensuing
cooling curves. We compare the findings of our computation to those ac-
quired from experiment conducted and find that they are extremely similar.
There is a considerable difference (of about 35%) in the time of cooling of the
surface where there is a possibility of influence of radiation from the second
surface to that of the surface with no influence at all. Although it is possible
to infer that heat convection plays a role in the total result, this has yet to be
proved. However, one can clearly see the significance of the surface to surface
radiative heat transfer on these parts confirming the research question posed
at the begining. The effect of the surface to surface radiative heat transfer
has an influence on the resulting cooling time and should be considered in
the model.
The determination of time of death is one of the central tasks in forensic medicine. A standard method of time of death estimation elies on matching temperature measurements of the corpse with a post-mortem cooling model. In addition to widely used empirical post-mortem models, modelling based on a precise mathematical simulation of the cooling process have been gaining popularity.
The simulation based cooling models and the resulting time of death estimates dependon a large variety of parameters. These include hermal properties for different body tissue types, environmental conditions such as temperature and air flow, and the presence of clothing and coverings. In this thesis we focus on a specific arameter - the contact between corpse and underground - and investigate its influence on the time of death estimation. Resulting we aim to answer the question whether it is necessary to consider contact mechanics in the underlying mathematical cooling model.
Estimation of time of death based on a single measurement of body
core temperature is a standard procedure in forensic medicine.
Mechanistic models using simulation of heat transport promise
higher accuracy than established phenomenological models in
particular in nonstandard situations, but involve many not exactly
known physical parameters. Identifying both time of death and
physical parameters from multiple temperature measurements is
one possibility to reduce the uncertainty significantly.
In this paper, we consider the inverse problem in a Bayesian setting
and perform both local and sampling-based uncertainty
quantification, where proper orthogonal decomposition is used as
model reduction for fast solution of the forward model. Based on
the local uncertainty quantification, optimal design of experiments
is performed in order to minimize the uncertainty in the time of
death estimate for a given number of measurements. For reasons
of practicability, temperature acquisition points are selected from
a set of candidates in different spatial and temporal locations.
Applied to a real corpse model, a significant accuracy improvement
is obtained already with a small number of measurements.
Estimation of time of death based on a single measurement of body
core temperature is a standard procedure in forensic medicine.
Mechanistic models using simulation of heat transport promise
higher accuracy than established phenomenological models in
particular in nonstandard situations, but involve many not exactly
known physical parameters. Identifying both time of death and
physical parameters from multiple temperature measurements is
one possibility to reduce the uncertainty significantly.
In this paper, we consider the inverse problem in a Bayesian setting
and perform both local and sampling-based uncertainty
quantification, where proper orthogonal decomposition is used as
model reduction for fast solution of the forward model. Based on
the local uncertainty quantification, optimal design of experiments
is performed in order to minimize the uncertainty in the time of
death estimate for a given number of measurements. For reasons
of practicability, temperature acquisition points are selected from
a set of candidates in different spatial and temporal locations.
Applied to a real corpse model, a significant accuracy improvement
is obtained already with a small number of measurements.
Temperature-based estimation of time of death (ToD) can be per-
formed either with the help of simple phenomenological models of corpse
cooling or with detailed mechanistic (thermodynamic) heat transfer mod-
els. The latter are much more complex, but allow a higher accuracy of
ToD estimation as in principle all relevant cooling mechanisms can be
taken into account.
The potentially higher accuracy depends on the accuracy of tissue and
environmental parameters as well as on the geometric resolution. We in-
vestigate the impact of parameter variations and geometry representation
on the estimated ToD based on a highly detailed 3D corpse model, that
has been segmented and geometrically reconstructed from a computed to-
mography (CT) data set, differentiating various organs and tissue types.
This thesis is devoted to the interdisciplinary work between mathematicians and forensic
experts: the modeling of the human body cooling process after death laying the
foundation for the estimation of the time of death. An inverse problem needs to be
solved. In this thesis the inverse problem computes the time of death given the measured
body temperature and the Forward Model that simulates the body cooling
process. The Forward Model is based on the heat equation established by Fourier.
This differential equation is numerically solved by the discretization over space by the
Finite Element Method and the discretization over time by the Implicit Euler Method.
The applications in this thesis demand a fast computation time. A model reduction is
achieved by the Proper Orthogonal Decomposition in combination with the Galerkin
Method. For reasons of simplification the computations and the measurements are
restricted to a cylindrical phantom that is made out of homogeneous polyethylene.
The estimate of the time of death is accompanied by an uncertainty. The inverse problem
is incorporated by Bayesian inference to interpret the quality of the estimate and
the effciency of the experiment. The uncertainty of the estimate of the time of death
is minimized by approaching the Optimal Design of the Experiment. An objective
function measures the certainty of the data and lays the foundation of the optimization
problem. Solving the optimization problem is successfully done by relaxing the
complex discrete NP-hard problem and applying a gradient-based method.
The results of this thesis clearly show that the design of an experiment has a great in-
uence on the outcome of the quality of the estimate. The comparison of the estimate
and its properties based on different designs and conditions reveals the effciency of
the Design of Experiment in the context of the estimation of the time of death.