Forensics Analysis for Bone Pair Matching Using Bipartite Graphs in Commingled Remains

Identification of missing prisoners of war is a complex and time consuming task. There are many missing soldiers whose remains have yet to be returned to their families and loved ones. This nation has a solemn obligation to its soldiers and their families who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. There are currently over 82,000 unidentified prisoners of war which are identified at a rate of 100+ per year. At this rate it would take 300+ years to complete the identification process. Previously, anthropologists used excel spreadsheets to sort through skeletal data. This project aims to streamline the specimen level information management, which is part of a larger collaboration with the US Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency on the Commingled Remains Analytics (CoRA) Ecosystem for inventorying and analyzing human remains, thereby allowing anthropologists to work more cohesively and with less chance of data loss or corruption. The human brain is very visual, with 90 percent of the knowledge gained through the visual cortex. This research aims to develop new capabilities for anthropologists to visualize bone pair-matches by developing graph visualizations to show which bones are potentially pair-matched using osteometric sorting algorithms using measurements. This will be further enhanced by using correlational data such as DNA, age estimation, trauma and pathology to score the strength of the pair-match. This research helps in the identification & segregation of bones and helps in fulfilling our nation’s promise to our soldiers and their families. This project has great significance for our country