Publications by authors named "Simona Gherghel"

It has recently been established that volatile organic compounds (VOCs) successfully transfer between clothing even with a short contact of 10 s, highlighting the potential to use VOCs in forensic reconstruction scenarios, such as sexual assault cases. The mid and low volatility compounds transferred in greater amounts than high volatility compounds. This study presents empirical data addressing the persistence of transferred VOCs on clothing for the first time.

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Sexual assault is a serious crime that often has low conviction rates. Recent literature has demonstrated that there is potential for fragrances to be valuable in forensic reconstructions where there has been contact between individuals. However, developing appropriate evidence bases for understanding the nature of fragrance transfer in these contexts is needed.

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An analytical method for the determination of trace amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) relevant to the cosmetics industry was optimised, validated and employed for the analysis of commercial perfumes. The method used a combination of headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). In addition to fibre type, three different HS-SPME extraction conditions were investigated simultaneously, namely incubation time, extraction time and extraction temperature, using a central composite design in order to determine the optimal conditions for the extraction of VOCs of interest.

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Article Synopsis
  • A study developed targeted and untargeted analyses using HS-SPME-GC-MS to classify 33 commercial rums, finding that certain compounds correlated with aging but posed challenges across different brands.
  • To enhance classification, unsupervised methods like hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA) were used, revealing significant chemical descriptors for rum classification.
  • Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) effectively classified rums based on production factors like manufacturing country and aging, achieving high accuracy rates between 91% to 95%.
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Perfumes are widely used by many people in developed countries, and a large number of both men and women wear perfumes on a daily basis. Analysis of perfume trace materials from clothing is not commonly employed within forensic casework, yet as a form of trace evidence it has the potential to provide valuable intelligence. In order to appreciate the value of trace evidence there is a fundamental need for an evidence base that can both offer insight into how a trace material behaves under different scenarios and activities, and from which inferences can be made.

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