Most cell phone mobile apps have the capability to track the owner’s location if the owner has allowed the app access. Forensic scientists and law enforcement officers are curious to see if this information can be beneficial for accurately solving cases. This project provides insight into that curiosity.
The first presentation I will be reporting on is “A Dynamic Taint Analysis Tool for Android Apps Forensic”. Chen Shi was the presenter I was able to talk to regarding the poster. He is a graduate student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Iowa State University. His co-authors are Zhen Xu, Dr. Neil Gong, and Dr. Yong Guan. The research question proposed by the project is “Can a person be linked to a crime scene through a global positioning satellite imbedded in an app on an Android cellular device?” The data was produced by the engineers tagging an area (marking a specific location that can be detected by an app) and once the person traveled through that area, the tag will be documented in a file in the database of an app that was previously downloaded by the cell phone owner. The app’s file will contain the precise time position information of the cell phone. The data was collected by imbedding the tag into a commonly downloaded app to record the readings. Longitude and latitude coordinates were to locate the app’s position at any given point. The results from the experiment are the file destination, the type of file the information is recorded in, and the file format of the imbedded tag in the stored app. Their future plans for the project are to expand the research to include apps that support video chat capabilities. This project can improve the field of forensic by creating another avenue to identify victims, narrow the scope for suspects, and hopefully exonerate individuals that were initially suspects. This technology is unique in that it automatically stores the information in a file in the app so the owner of the phone has no idea that their location in reference to the crime is documented which cuts down on tampering with the information in the file.
According to the Simplified Guide to Bloodstain Pattern Analysis, “Bloodstain pattern analysis (BPA) is the interpretation of bloodstains at a crime scene in order to recreate the actions that caused the bloodshed.” 1 Forensic scientists have wonder about the contributing factors that effect blood spatter. This projected was developed to help shed light on the question.
The second presentation I will be reporting on is project AA – Inverse Problems in Forensic Science – A Statistical Approach. Dr. Lotem Kaplan was the presenter I was able to talk to regarding the presentation. She is a Postdoc at Carnegie Mellon University and has not created an actual poster for this information yet. Her co – author is Dr. Bill Eddy. He is a professor at Carnegie Mellon University.
The research question prompted by the project is “How are blood spatter formed and what blood dynamics are involved?” The data was produced by two experiments; dropping blood from a certain height and gunshot spatter. The blood drops are used the simulate the victim leaving drops of blood after being wounded. The gun shot test is meant to simulate the victim being shot by a gun. The data was collected by dropping blood from a specific height or simulating a gun shot spatter, taking images of the spatters, and calculating their velocities. The variables are the size of the drops, gravity, height of wound from ground, and the victims motion or actions. The equation $Z_0 = \frac{(\tau_1-\tau_2)}{2r_2-2r_1}$ 2 was used to calculate the spatters’ velocity. Videos were taken during the data collection of both processes. In the video of the gunshot test, a square shaped object at the end of a machine similar to a pendulum was used to hit the blood and spatter on a white wall. The velocity was calculated and used to make linear graphs. Data from previous experiment trials are used to infer future trial results and to make new videos with their own calculated velocities. A useful result from their experiment was that they were able to collect statistical data that can be used determine blood spatter dynamics. The future direction for this project is to expand and perfect this method to be used on other projects for the purpose of advancing the process of recreating blood spatter positions. This project can improve the field of forensics by providing a model of how blood travels through space and lands on a surface, like if a person was shot or wounded and dripping blood as they moved.
www.forensicsciencesimplified.org/blood/.