An investigation into the use of riverine mesocosms to analyse the effect of flow velocity and recipient textiles on forensic fibre persistence studies.

Textile fibre evidence can provide important activity level information in criminal cases. To date, very few studies have investigated fibre persistence on fabrics exposed to aquatic conditions, even though items of evidence and victim's bodies can regularly be found in aquatic environments. This lack of research on whether fibres (and other trace evidence) persist on evidence submerged in water, has shown to impact practice as it is reported that crime scene examiners do not attempt to recover this evidence, due to the belief that it would not be present.

Planning and developing a method for collecting ground truth data relating to footwear mark evidence.

Ground Truth Data is data that comes from a known source, where the truth about the data is known and not inferred (FSR, 2021). The Forensic Science Regulator requires forensic units (that carry out certain forensic processes) to undertake tests against ground truth data for the purposes of quality assurance/quality control processes such as accreditation. However, the data collected must form a meaningful dataset that will enable relevant tests to be performed that inform the end-user.

Plastics derived from disposable greenhouse plastic films and irrigation pipes in agricultural soils: a case study from Turkey.

Plastics are ubiquitous. It has been used in human activities, from agriculture to packaging, infrastructure, and health. The wide range of usage makes plastics an omnipresent pollutant in the environment.

The creation of an assessment tool for the analysis of two forms of heat damage in animal hair.

Animal cruelty cases can involve a variety of mistreatment to domestic animals. A common source of abuse is the use of heat sources, such as ovens, hot surfaces and microwaves. Analysis of damage to skin by a veterinarian is a key aspect of these investigations but additional information can be provided by observing the hair of the animal, including heat source type and exposure time.

An international survey into the analysis and interpretation of microscopic hair evidence by forensic hair examiners.

Due to inadequacies in historical hair examinations, the use and perceived value of microscopic hair evidence has reduced. Many reports have heavily criticised the use of pattern-based evidence including hair evidence as being unreliable, with police forces focussing on more individualising evidence. Hair evidence has been utilised in casework for many years due to its ability to transfer easily between individuals and crime scenes.

The effect of tape type, taping method and tape storage temperature on the retrieval rate of fibres from various surfaces: An example of data generation and analysis to facilitate trace evidence recovery validation and optimisation.

This paper aspires to assist those tasked with data generation and analysis for the purpose of the validation and/or optimisation of trace evidence recovery. It does so via a detailed report of the authors' approach to this problem in the context of target fibre retrieval using self-adhesive tapes. Textile fibres can provide valuable evidence at both source and activity levels.

Quantification is more than counting: Actions required to accurately quantify and report isolated marine microplastics.

Research on marine microplastics continues to increase in popularity, with a large number of studies being published every year. However, with this plethora of research comes the need for a standardised approach to quantification and analysis procedures in order to produce comparative assessments. Using data collected from neuston nets in 2016, parameters for quantifying microplastics were compared.

Deep-sea anthropogenic macrodebris harbours rich and diverse communities of bacteria and archaea.

The deep sea is the largest biome on earth, and microbes dominate in biomass and abundance. Anthropogenic litter is now almost ubiquitous in this biome, and its deposition creates new habitats and environments, including for microbial assemblages. With the ever increasing accumulation of this debris, it is timely to identify and describe the bacterial and archaeal communities that are able to form biofilms on macrodebris in the deep sea.

The design and implementation of a proficiency test for assessors of fingermark quality, to facilitate collaborative practise in fingermark research.

Significant numbers of institutions are carrying out fingermark based research, yet there appears to be little inter-institution consistency in the approaches used to assess the quality of the samples produced. Inter-institution consistency in quality assessment would lead to inevitable benefits in collaborating research projects, given that data from multiple projects may be combined, or compared. In order for such quality assessment schemes to be effectively used across multiple institutions, proficiency in using such approaches should be identified to ensure parity.

Using a forensic science approach to minimize environmental contamination and to identify microfibres in marine sediments.

There is growing evidence of extensive pollution of the environment by microplastic, with microfibres representing a large proportion of the microplastics seen in marine sediments. Since microfibres are ubiquitous in the environment, present in the laboratory air and water, evaluating microplastic pollution is difficult. Incidental contamination is highly likely unless strict control measures are employed.