A Novel Forensic Tool for the Characterization and Comparison of Printing Ink Evidence: Development and Evaluation of a Searchable Database Using Data Fusion of Spectrochemical Methods.

A searchable printing ink database was designed and validated as a tool to improve the chemical information gathered from the analysis of ink evidence. The database contains 319 samples from printing sources that represent some of the global diversity in toner, inkjet, offset, and intaglio inks. Five analytical methods were used to generate data to populate the searchable database including FTIR, SEM-EDS, LA-ICP-MS, DART-MS, and Py-GC-MS.

Mandarin Chinese tone identification in cochlear implants: predictions from acoustic models.

It has been established that current cochlear implants do not supply adequate spectral information for perception of tonal languages. Comprehension of a tonal language, such as Mandarin Chinese, requires recognition of lexical tones. New strategies of cochlear stimulation such as variable stimulation rate and current steering may provide the means of delivering more spectral information and thus may provide the auditory fine-structure required for tone recognition.