John Albanese | University of Windsor (original) (raw)

Conference Presentations by John Albanese

. Models tested for sex estimation and their allocation accuracies according to systems I (p=0.5 ... more . Models tested for sex estimation and their allocation accuracies according to systems I (p=0.5 cut-off point) and II (p=0.25 and p=0.75 cut-offs)

For this research, a total of 8 male skeletons from the Forensic Anthropology collection at the U... more For this research, a total of 8 male skeletons from the Forensic Anthropology collection at the University of Windsor were used.

Papers by John Albanese

Humans, Jun 18, 2024

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY

Ethics, Medicine and Public Health, 2021

Summary Backgroud The current article is part of the paper presented at the Colloque Internationa... more Summary Backgroud The current article is part of the paper presented at the Colloque International Anthropo-Responsabilite (28–29 janvier 2021–musee du quai Branly–Jacques Chirac, Paris). Methodology The Teaching and Research Centre of Forensic Archaeology and Anthropology (NEPAAF) at the Laboratory of Archaeological Studies (LEA) from the Federal University of Sao Paulo (UNIFESP) have developed a pioneer project which deals with the compilation and organization of documentary data (antemortem phase), preparation, curation and bioanthropological analysis of the skeletons (postmortem phase) of an identified osteological collection of the Institute of Teaching and Research in Forensic Sciences (IEPCF) in order to conduct research and provide advanced training in Forensics. The IEPCF collection currently includes 143 unclaimed skeletons with extensive documentation including sex, age-at-death, statute, ancestry, place of birth and death, date of birth/death and cause of death were obtained from the public cemetery records. Identified osteological collections have been traditionally used to develop and test methods in Forensic Anthropology to identify the biological profile through estimation of age-at-death, sex, stature, and ancestry. Given the history of Brazil, the amassing of osteological reference collections is an important a challenge to be overcome to address the reality of violence and death. The main goal of the project is to create an anthropological sample to maximize the research and training potential, and to adapt international standard procedures and methods to Brazilian forensic contexts. Results-discussion Reliminary results from assessing ancestry methods using this collection are presented in this paper to assess some of the ethical and human implications of the continued use of race and ancestry in forensic anthropology. Using a sub-sample of 36 individuals (21 males and 15 females), two major methods were tested for their utility in a forensic context. Both the morphoscopic and metric methods performed poorly. Given the parameters of the blind testing, both methods provided reliable information that matched antemortem records equivalent to chance, and in 47–50% of the cases provide wrong information. Conclusion The results have implications for the adaption of methods to a forensic context in Brazil, and internationally with respect to human rights investigations.

McGill-Queen's University Press eBooks, Oct 27, 2021

Co-authors: Katherine L. Nichols, Eldon Yellowhorn, Deanna Reader, Emily Holland, Dongya Yang, Jo... more Co-authors: Katherine L. Nichols, Eldon Yellowhorn, Deanna Reader, Emily Holland, Dongya Yang, John Albanese, Darian Kennedy, Elton Taylor, and Hugo FV Cardoso Book: Royally Wronged - The Royal Society of Canada’s Role in the Marginalization of Indigenous Knowledge and Going Forward Editors: C Backhouse, C Milton, M Kovach, A Perry, and J Evans Press: McGill-Queen’s University Press URL: https://www.mqup.ca/royally-wronged-products-9780228009030.php

May, and the fall issue in the first week of November. I continue to refine the appearance of the... more May, and the fall issue in the first week of November. I continue to refine the appearance of the Newsletter and am experimenting with different paper weights, binding, etc.; I will happily entertain any suggestions you might have. In the next issue we will move, I hope, to a digital reproduction system that will print black and white photographs in reasonable resolution. The deadline for submission of articles, book reviews, news, etc. for the next issue will be October lst, and I will issue a "call for subsmissions" via e-mail not later than September 1st. awn I-> Newsletter Editor Abstracts (Alphabeticd order by fint author) Similarities and Difference Between the Temy Collection and the Grant Cdlecfion: The Implications of Collection and Sample Selection When Developing Sex Determination Methods. JOHN ALBANESE (ESP) McMaster University The maximum vertical diameter of the head of the humerus and the maximum diameter of the head of the femur were collected from 52 skeletons from the Grant Collection, at the University of Toronto, and compared to 100 skeletons from the Terry Collection, now located at the Smithsonian Institution. Single variable sex determination methods were developed from the Grant Collection sample and applied to the Terry Collection sample and vice versa. Thi s study suggests that 1) the selection of the reference collection and sample will have an effect on the widespread reliability and accuracy of the method; 2) the importance of "race' as a factor when determining sex will vary depending on the collection from which the method was developed, the specific measurement that i s considered, and the sex of the individual in question; 3) in this case (only?), the homogeneity between and within these samples and collections in the head of the humerus make it a better discriminator of sex than the head of the femur. Skeletal Variability in Recent North Americans: Implication for the Development of New Sex Determination Methods. JOHN ALBANESE (ESP) McMaster University In order to assess some of the biases in reference samples used to develop sex determination methods, FORDISC 2.0 was used to identify some of the differences in the pattern of sexual dimorphism between a sample from the Forensic Data Bank (University of Tennessee) and a sample from the Grant Collection (University of Toronto). It was found that when long bone length were not included in the FORDISC analysis, some Grant Collection individuals were more typical of the reference population (Forensic Data Bank). Many others who should have been typical according to conventional thought were not.

Journal of Archaeological Science, 2005

In this paper we present a new methodology for developing sample-specific metric sex determinatio... more In this paper we present a new methodology for developing sample-specific metric sex determination methods using unidentified individuals that can be applied to archaeological samples. This methodology does not require the assessment of sex of a large sample from pelvic morphological features as a first step in developing the method and instead is developed from a sample of individuals with sex unknown. The procedure involves using the overall mean of a measurement collected from the sample of unknowns as the ...

Secular changes or secular trends are non-genetic changes that occur over multiple generations in... more Secular changes or secular trends are non-genetic changes that occur over multiple generations in a population. The changes are not due to evolution because there are no corresponding changes in allele frequencies in the population. These changes typically correspond with changes in living conditions and are reflected in the population means for growth and development, and not necessarily in any one individual. The most studied secular change is change in stature or height. Improvements in living conditions have resulted in measurable increases or positive secular changes in stature from parents to children. The most obvious cases have been observed when comparing first generation immigrants to their children. Conversely, decreases or negative secular changes in mean population stature from parents to children have been documented when living conditions worsen due to natural disasters, wars, or prolonged economic hardships. Several sources of data can be used for the study of secula...

"Accurate and precise assessments of sex and age at death of human skeletal remains are the ... more "Accurate and precise assessments of sex and age at death of human skeletal remains are the essential first steps in the bioarchaeological reconstruction of past human populations, including patterns of morbidity and mortality, demographic reconstruction, diet and health, mobility and social status. Identified skeletal collections have been indispensable for developing and testing the methods used to estimate age and sex. The value of these collections is entirely based on the quality of the documentary information for any one individual and for a collection as a whole. However, there are limitations and pitfalls involved in research using identified collections. How does a researcher know if ‘known ages’ are indeed correct? If a collection has been curated over the course of many decades, does it constitute a population, or simply an assembly of individuals unrelated in time and space? How should such a collection be sampled? Further problems and limitations associated with each collection are context-specific; for instance, the politico-economic context of the collection process can have an enormous impact on the structure and composition of the collection. Why were some skeletons included in the collection and have the retained documentary data been assessed for accuracy? Drawing on our experience conducting research using various identified collections from around the world (Coimbra, Dart, Forensic Anthropology Databank, Grant, Huntington, Lisbon, Pretoria, Spitalfields and Terry), in this paper we present some practical suggestions for overcoming the possible problems with reference collections and maximizing their research potential. "

Remodeling Forensic Skeletal Age

International Journal of Osteoarchaeology

Journal of Forensic Sciences

Totem the University of Western Ontario Journal of Anthropology, 2011

A comprehensive model that builds on cemetery studies theory and new biocultural synthesis theory... more A comprehensive model that builds on cemetery studies theory and new biocultural synthesis theory is presented for investigating human variation using reference collections. This model is used to investigate several hypotheses related to the use of skeletal reference collections and the race concept in skeletal biology. Are racial categories or equivalent terms useful for investigating human variation? Have biases in reference collections resulted in a misinterpretation of human variation? Is it possible to identify and control for some of the biases in reference collections and develop identification methods that are still useful in the 21st century? Documentary, historical and skeletal data were collected from two different reference collections: the Terry and Coimbra Collections. Some data from the Forensic Anthropology Data Bank (FDB) were also used in conjunction with these two collections in analyses related to patterns of sexual dimorphism, sex determination methods, and asse...

Journal of Forensic Sciences, 2013

Sex estimation from skeletal remains can be an important part of preliminary identification. The ... more Sex estimation from skeletal remains can be an important part of preliminary identification. The best source of information for estimating sex is the pelvis but it is not always available for analysis. For these cases, a probabilistic sex estimation method is presented using combinations of standard and alternative measurements of the clavicle, humerus, radius, and ulna. Various equations are developed that are not population specific and that are applicable in various recovery scenarios. The equations were tested using four independent samples (n &amp;gt; 370), including a forensic sample. Allocation accuracies vary by test sample and equation and are consistently good (87.4-97.5%) except for a sample of very small males that show the extreme effects of poverty and mortality bias. For many of the cases where allocation was incorrect, the probabilistic approach indicated that no confidence should be placed in the incorrect allocation and the unknown should be classified as sex indeterminate.

Humans, Jun 18, 2024

Ethics, Medicine and Public Health, 2021

McGill-Queen's University Press eBooks, Oct 27, 2021

Journal of Archaeological Science, 2005

Remodeling Forensic Skeletal Age

International Journal of Osteoarchaeology

Journal of Forensic Sciences

Totem the University of Western Ontario Journal of Anthropology, 2011

Journal of Forensic Sciences, 2013

Forensic Science International, 2016

An estimate of stature can be used by a forensic anthropologist with the preliminary identificati... more An estimate of stature can be used by a forensic anthropologist with the preliminary identification of an unknown individual when human skeletal remains are recovered. Fordisc is a computer application that can be used to estimate stature; like many other methods it requires the user to assign an unknown individual to a specific group defined by sex, race/ancestry, and century of birth before an equation is applied. The assumption is that a group-specific equation controls for group differences and should provide the best results most often. In this paper we assess the utility and benefits of using group-specific equations to estimate stature using Fordisc. Using the maximum length of the humerus and the maximum length of the femur from individuals with documented stature, we address the question: Do sex-, race/ancestry- and century-specific stature equations provide the best results when estimating stature? The data for our sample of 19th Century White males (n=28) were entered into Fordisc and stature was estimated using 22 different equation options for a total of 616 trials: 19th and 20th Century Black males, 19th and 20th Century Black females, 19th and 20th Century White females, 19th and 20th Century White males, 19th and 20th Century any, and 20th Century Hispanic males. The equations were assessed for utility in any one case (how many times the estimated range bracketed the documented stature) and in aggregate using 1-way ANOVA and other approaches. This group-specific equation that should have provided the best results was outperformed by several other equations for both the femur and humerus. These results suggest that group-specific equations do not provide better results for estimating stature while at the same time are more difficult to apply because an unknown must be allocated to a given group before stature can be estimated.

Forensic science international, 2016

The use of cadaver length and forensic stature as a proxy for living standing height has not been... more The use of cadaver length and forensic stature as a proxy for living standing height has not been scrutinized in detail. In this paper we present a brief review of the current knowledge on the relationship between cadaver, living and forensic stature; assess the magnitude and nature of the differences between these three measures of stature; and investigate the potential impact of these differences in forensic contexts. The study uses a sample of 84 males who were autopsied in 2008 at the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (Porto, Portugal), where stature data were collected from three different sources: cadaver stature was obtained from the corpse prior to autopsy, living stature was obtained from military conscription records and forensic stature was obtained from national citizenship identification card records. Descriptive statistics, ANOVA and linear regression are used to analyze the data. The results show that cadaver stature is the highest measure, fo...

Forensic science international, Jan 19, 2015

An accurate and precise estimate of stature can be very useful in the analysis of human remains i... more An accurate and precise estimate of stature can be very useful in the analysis of human remains in forensic cases. A problem with many stature estimation methods is that an unknown individual must first be assigned to a specific group before a method can be applied. Group membership has been defined by sex, age, year of birth, race, ancestry, continental origin, nationality or a combination of these criteria. Univariate and multivariate sex-specific and generic equations are presented here that do not require an unknown individual to be assigned to a group before stature is estimated. The equations were developed using linear regression with a sample (n=244) from the Terry Collection and tested using independent samples from the Forensic Anthropology Databank (n=136) and the Lisbon Collection (n=85). Tests with these independent samples show that (1) the femur provides the best univariate results; (2) the best multivariate equation includes the humerus, femur and tibia lengths; (3) ...