Forensic Science Project Part II- Hair/FIber Analysis

History of Hair and Fibers

History of Hair/Fiber Analysis

The history of hair/fiber analysis is very important to forensic scientist students to reveal different hairs and fibers such as dog hair or human hair. The brief studies of hair/fiber analysis below show the different people who participated in studies of hair and fibers. Starting in the 1800s, crime scène investigators noticed that hair was an important part of trace evidence at a crime scene. Crime scene investigators found hair that was trace evidence in the murder case of Duschesse de Praeslin in Paris in the year of 1874. Forensic scientist students need to know that hair is the most common type of hair evidence. I think this is important that trace evidence including hair is found because it identifies  an unknown victim or suspect during the crime. When hair used in conjunction with D.N.A. and other evidence, it can be a powerful tool for an investigator. My personal opinion of this is that hair can tell hidden details and define any person during the scene of a crime . Therefore, hair is one of the strong tools for investigations.   

In the year of 1883, a man named Alfred Swaine Taylor wrote a book called The Principle and Practice of Medical Jurisprudence .In his book , he included drawings of the labeled parts of human hair.  The book is also about the use of hair in forensic investigations. Without Alfred Swaine Taylor drawings, no one would know the specific parts of the human hair. I think that knowing the different parts of the human hair including papilla, which is at the base of the hair follicle and made up of connective tissue will show to forensic scientist students that the basic structure of hair drawings is very important. Also without Alfred Taylor writings about the use of human hair in investigations, forensic scientist students would not know that D.N.A of a hair sample can show the race of that particular person and gender. Alfred Taylors writings of the use of hair in investigations collecting hair samples in investigations proves an abundant of things in crime scenes including who the victim and a suspect of the crime are. Therefore, Alfred Taylor’s writings of the use of hair and drawings of human hair in crime scene investigations were a big contributor to the history of hair analysis.

In 1910, French forensic scientists Victore Balthazard and Marcelle Lambert did a study of hair titled The Hair of Man and Animals. The book includes numerous amounts studies of hair from most animals. This particular study reveals that there is an abundant amount of differences between human hair and animal hair. Animal hairs are incomparable to human hairs in some ways such as human hair even color pigmentation throughout the hair strand. Animal hairs have color variations, which is also known as banding. I think there has always been a difference between human hair and animal hair. The two are very different objects between humans and animals.

Fiber Analysis

In crime scene investigations police try to find fibers to a link a suspect to a crime. These are some descriptions of people who has discovered or study about fibers. Edmond Locard  was forensic scientist who created this important principle that said “Every contact leaves a trace”. Criminals always leave some trace of evidence on car seats, trunks or anywhere near the crime scene. Edmond Locard realized that this material was a key ingredient to analyzing a crime. He created the “Locard Exchange Principle” which became the foundation of forensic science. Rudolph Virchow who was a German pathologist revealed that hairs were not unique enough to match a suspect to a victim. A man named Paul L. Kirk wrote a book about “Criminal Investigation” in this book he wrote about the fundamentals of microscopic hair analysis used by the scientist in that time period.

These are the contributors studied about hairs and fibers. Hairs and fibers are important today because they can help solve a crime. So without these contributors we would today not know a lot about hairs and fibers. Without these people, I would just think hair is useless but now I know that hair is important thing in life. I already know hair on top of my head is important to me. I mean the analyzing of hair just not knowing how to straighten hair.

Citations


Contursi, Janet. "Forensic Analysis of Hair | EHow.com." EHow | How to Videos, Articles & More - Discover the Expert in You. | EHow.com. Web. 05 Dec. 2011. <http://www.ehow.com/about_5597295_forensic-analysis-hair.html>.




Links

Forensic Science Project Part II:Hair/ Fiber Analysis

Major Types of Fibers

Fibers today are an important essential in the world today because it helps in the making of clothes, rugs, mattress, and several of other objects. Forensic scientist should learn about the different fibers such as cotton, polyester, silk, nylon, and wool. There are very beneficial to them so they know how to tell what different fibers are collected from a crime.

Cotton

                 Cotton is a soft fluffy looking capsule that grows around the seeds of a cotton plant. Cotton has dated back to the 1600s and 1700s. In the seventeen hundreds machines were made to spin thread and weave cloth in huge bundles. Therefore, production will be more expedient. Even in 300 B.C., Alexander the Great brought cotton to the country of Europe but the price was too high. There is a process of producing cotton. The first step is when the cotton comes it goes into a specific machine that does the cleaning and picking of all the dirt out of the cotton. A carding machine separates cotton fibers from long to short . Then there is another process called spinning. In the process of spinning there are three procedures which are  draft , straighten, and then cotton is made for weaving into clothes. After the cotton has been inspected , then it is sent through gase flames to take off the fuzz off the cotton. The cotton boils in alkaline solution to get rid of discoloration. Finally, the cotton is bleached through other chemicals and dyed in a machine. Cotton has many uses and one of my favorite fibers. Cotton production companies put cotton under sweaters to keep me warm. Cotton is used for abundant of warm clothing and does not irritate my skin. In my personal opinion, cotton is very soft upon the skin and very valuable in modern day world. The main point that forensic scientist students need to know is that cotton is a very popular fiber and the fiber goes through a procedure in order for the cotton to be in clothing.

                                                                                                                        This is a picture of wool.

Wool can come from different animals such as sheep, rabbits, camels, and goats. Mostly wool comes from sheep. There are four processes of wool including shearing, sorting and grading, yarn, and fabric. First, you have to shear a sheep for its wool. The second step is sorting and grading of cotton. This means that you have to pick out all the dirt from the wool. This also means to separate all the wool fibers from bad to good. Next, the wool is washed in yolk to remove remaining impurities and then wool fibers are sent into a carding machine that untangles the fibers. After that fibers are made into a web. Then the web is transformed into ropes called silvers. The process of creating yarn relies on how long the fibers are. Lastly, the fiber weaves the yarn into different fabrics including jackets, pants, sweaters, and dresses. Wool in my opinion is warm to wear but can be irritating to the skin. I do not have an abundant amount of wool clothing because I think wool is not that popular to wear. Wool is used to make comfortable hats, scarf, and gloves so I have an absolute reason to appreciate wool.

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                                                                                                                This is a picture of silk.










                                                                                                               This is a picture of nylon.

Nylon is the second most important fiber in the U.S. Nylon was first used to make pantyhose stockings for women. The development of cotton came from the Chemist William H. Carothers. Nylon has very strong texture and is not heavy at all. Nylon is made by using molten nylon through a system called a spinneret. The nylon becomes hard by the cool air. Then the nylon fibers are wound into bobbins and are stretched after they cool. The stretching process of the nylon makes the nylon become elastic. Nylon is elastic, stretchable, not effected by heat, and quickly dries. Nylon is used for clothing such as swimwear, leggings, and pantyhose stockings.

                                                                                                                            This is a polyester fiber.

Polyester is the most used fiber in the world and was first created by company named du Pont de Nemours Company. Polyester  is the linking of several esters within a fiber. The chemical process to create polyester contains ethylene glycol and dimethyl terephthalate .These two chemicals together create a reaction that results in bisterephthalate . Polyester is resistant to mildew, shrinking, wrinkles, and most chemicals. An unfamiliar fact about polyester that I did not know that it is made from the same substance as plastic drink bottles. Polyester was created in Britain in the 1940s, then in 1950s it became popular household products such as drapes. In my personal opinion, I think polyester is irritating to the skin for me. Polyester also does cling to different objects.

All of tese fibers help me in my everyday life. These fibers can help people in case they are murdered they link these fiber to a suspect of the crime. These fibers are extremely important to me. I did not know Nylon is used in stocking and leggings. This was a very enriched insight detailed research about fibers. I knew that fibers could create  cloth but I did not know what types of clothing. For instance I did not know that Polyester was made out of the same substance as plastic drinking bottles. I thought to myself this is very weird but very insightful.Silk which is very pretty but is very irritating to my skin. I feel like i know so much about fibers than I knew before.

Citations for Research

"Cotton." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 29 Nov. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton>.

This website above gets the credibility of showing the true definition of what cotton is.

"Textiles." Oracle Think Quest, Education Foundation. Web. 21 Nov. 2011. <http://library.thinkquest.org/C004179/textiles.html>.
This website gets the credibility for all of the research about wool,cotton,plyester,silk,and nylon.

Citations for pictures

"Microscope." Carpet and Furniture Cleaning, Disaster Restoration, Contract and Facility Cleaning Technical Bulletins. Web. 02 Dec. 2011. <http://www.cleanprosonline.com/microscope.html>.

This website gets the credibility of the visual image of nylon under a microscope.

"» Why Rugs Are Not Cleaned in the Home. RugChick.com." RugChick.com. Web. 02 Dec. 2011. <http://www.rugchick.com/2011/04/why-rugs-are-not-cleaned-in-the-home/>.

This website gets the credibility of the image that was wool shown under a microscope.

"Cloths under the Microscope." The Wonderful Microworld. Web. 2 Nov. 2011. <http://microbeauty.blogspot.com/2009/08/cloths-under-microscope.html>

This website gets the credibility of the visual image of cotton, silk, and polyester under the microscope.

 Links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nylon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyester

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wool

Silk is very soft pretty,  slippery, and a fiber that dates all the way back to the 27^th century when Chinese had received  silk from silkworms. What the Chinese would do was break apart a silkworms cocoon and takes the silk fibers that were left in it. Chinese people would raise silk worms and this made the Chinese community be very wealthy because of this trade. The silkworm is fed with mulberry leaves, which can be yellow, green, or white with a sweet flavor. The production of silk goes into specific procedures. First, silkworms are fed with mulberry leaves. Second, silk can have a different grade such as low or high by what the silkworms are fed. Domestic tree leaves that are fed to silkworms produce a higher grade of silk. Silkworms that feed on oak leaves have a medium grade of silk. Next the silkworm has to be spun by tops of loose straws and   then the protecting coverings  are killed by a heating process. Lastly, silk is used for curtains, draperies, scarves, and dresses. Silk is a smooth, cool and very comfortable material. There is a sensation that I get from silk. Silk is a very beautiful piece clothing fiber to wear to any function to look extremely nice in.

Forensic Science Project Part II: Hair/Fiber

Picture and labeled parts of a complete hair

Hair Diagram

Hair is the most common type of physical evidence. Hair has many various parts to it such as papilla, root sheath, hair shaft, medulla and each part has a specific job to create the human hair. Hair is a thin fine like strand that grows throughout the skin. Hair can be found in many places but the head most importantly. Here’s a joke to spice up the hair follicle structure  “ The Sunday School teacher asked if any of the children's parents had quoted from the Bible in the past week. Little Timmy paused, but then spoke up, 'My daddy doesn't have any hair on his head. Daddy says that God put hair on everything that he was ashamed of.” The human hair structure has an abundant of parts that consists of it. Hair extends through the bulb and continues out as a shaft. The shaft terminates at the tip of the human hair. Forensic scientist students need to know that the shaft is the most observed part of the human hair. The shaft contains of three parts cuticle, medulla, and  cortex. There are also cuticle patterns such as coronal, spinous, and imbricate. The coronal is shaped like crown or has zig zaggy stacked cups. The spinous is shaped like triangle shaped scales that is going upward.

The medulla is the inner part of the hair strand made up of connected cells which are called keratin. The medulla is presented at the top of hair diagram. However, there are different classifications of the medulla including fragmented, discontinuous/Intermittent, continuous, and absent. The fragmented part is broken up into small sections and not all the same sizes. The discontinuous /Intermittent is presented with longer segments of the hair with a lot more space in between. The continuous of course does not break it keeps continuing in the medulla. The absent part is when there is no medulla presented in the hair strand. Forensic scientist students need to remember that the medulla is another part of the hair structure it is broken down or classified to get a better understanding of the Medulla.

Lastly, the cortex is between the cuticle and the medulla. The cortex is made up of cells that are in a tampered at each end and is parallel to the length of the hair. They are many other structures of the hair that consists of the papilla, root sheath, bulge, and matrix. The papilla has connective tissue and is at the base of the hair follicle.

The root sheath has two parts to it internal and external. The internal root sheath consists of three parts Henle’s parts, Huxley’s parts, and contains an internal cuticle. The bulge of the hair strand is on the outer root sheath near the pill muscle and it creates new cells in the hair follicle. A pill muscle is The bulge of the hair is very important to know of the hair strand.

Forensic scientist students have to put all these specific structures in consideration when analyzing a hair strand at a crime scene. I think the hair follicle is a fascinating structure to look at. In the human hair structure, you have all these parts that contributing to the making of a hair strand. All my life I never thought the human hair had all these various parts to it. I thought the hair is something that grows out of your skin unexpectedly. Hair is something that I like because of the hairstyles you could put on your head. Hair is put on our body for different reasons.

  Citations

"Hair and Fiber Analysis." Hair and Fiber Analysis. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://www.centralreg.k12.nj.us/webpages/SHopson/files/hair.pdf>.

This website above gets the credibility of all of the research containing the various parts of the human hair structure.

Picture citations

"Beau Cheveux :: Custom Human Hair Wigs, Hair Extensions, Wefts, Braids, Wig Shop in Maryland, Wholesale Wigs." :: Beau Cheveux :: Custom Human Hair Wigs, Hair Extensions, Wefts, Braids, Wig Shop in Maryland, Virginia, Washington DC, Wholesale Wigs. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://www.beau-cheveux.com/hair_information.html>.

This website above gets credibility of exhibiting a picture of the various parts of the human hair.

Links

http://www.chem.sc.edu/analytical/chem107/lab4_032205.pdf

http://www.hairformula37.com/chemistry.htm

Forensic Science Project Part II : Hair/Fiber Analysis

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Reliability of hair/fiber crime scene data

Forensic scientist students need to learn about how important the reliability of hair is in crime scene and how hair and fibers are used.

Hair and fiber evidence is critical to crime scene investigators because they can know who is guilty for a crime.  During the performing of everyday activities, humans shed hair and fiber evidence from their bodies, clothes and other objects or materials of which they make contact with. Forensic analysis may be used to examine such trace evidence to summarize about the activities of persons unable or willing to explain their purpose at the crime scene. For instance if crime scene investigators wanted to reconstruct the events experienced during the crime, they can use carpet fiber form a car of a serial killer to draw connections between the serial killer and his victims, who contained the fibers on their corposes. There were two men named John Glaister and John Hicks confirmed about the accuracy that hair science was true. Many people relied on DNA testing of hairs and fibers to release them from prison. A man named James Driskell was in prison for 12 years until DNA testing of hair analysis proved him innocent for the doing a particular crime. This case shows that hair and fibers are reliable to show the innocence of a person in a court trial. Even though sometimes hair can be a great evidence for the court room, hair analysis may not tell the person’s individual identity. The federal bureau of Investigations says hair is 100%  accurate for evidence in court.

In my personal opinion I believe that the reliability of hair and fibers are important because they are the main source of getting someone out of trouble. Like for instance someone is in jail for a murder crime they know they did not commit and they have no proof that they were not at the crime scene. Your whole life depends on the hair or particular fiber that the forensic scientist collect. If the DNA does not match to that particular someone then they are free. Now if the hair or particular does link up to that person they are in some deep stuff. So I feel the reliability of hair and fibers are so important in life.

Citations

Diamond, Giselle. "Forensic Science: Hair Fiber Analysis | EHow.com." EHow | How to Videos, Articles & More - Discover the Expert in You. | EHow.com. Web. 04 Dec. 2011. http://www.ehow.com/about_6102496_forensic-science_-hair-fiber-analysis.html.
This website gets the credibility for all the research in my blog posting for the relability of hair and fibers.


Links


http://www.ehow.co.uk/about_5640929_forensic-science-hair-fiber-identification.html

Forensic Science Part II: Hair/ Fiber Analysis

Hair/Fiber Collection Techniques


Hair and fibers are important to be collected at a crime because they can tell who is responsible for the crime. However, there particular techniques to collect hairs and fibers they do not  need to be taken lightly. The human hair can define that particular person it belongs to. The examination of hair can tell what gender, race, age that person who left the human hair at the crime scene. To collect a hair sample at crime scene investigation forensic scientist students need to first have a tweezers present and pick up the hair sample. Next, take a envelope and insert the hair sample into the envelope. For the third step forensic scientist students need to label envelope of the specific name of where the hair sample comes from. Now on some occasions hair will be attached different things including blood, or caught in a crack of a glass. If this event happens you are not suppose to remove that hair sample from the object. The first step in order to collect that particular small hair is mark where hair is, then wraps the hair sample and put in an envelope. Do not forget to label the envelope of where the hair is located .

Fiber Collection Techniques

Tapelifting

Vacuuming

Fibers of hairs can be found in different objects such as screens, broken glasses, cars, houses, and even on animals if during the a crime scene. The fibers that are collected from a car can be sent to forensic scientist laboratory to see if they match to some victims of a crime. When examinations occur, it can reveal the different colors of the fiber and type of fiber it is such as wool, cotton, Polyester or etc. Now these are the steps to collect large fibers from crime scene first forensic scientist students need to pick up the fiber with your fingers and place it in a envelope. Next step label the envelope of the type of fiber that is in the envelope. Remember an important note that forensic scientist students should never put the fibers directly in the envelope you might lose the fiber. Now if the fibers small the first step is to wrap the whole area that contains the fiber and send the fiber to nearby forensic scientist laboratory. For collecting hair and fibers combined forensic scientist students can use these techniques such as tape lifting. First, the trace tape is applied to the location of the hair and fiber. Second take the sample and insert it into envelope.  An alternative technique for collecting hairs and fibers combined is vacuuming. This means when hair and fiber sample is discovered it is vacuumed into a filter trap. Only if have laboratory sends a notice forensic scientist students can collect fibers by placing tape on them.

I think personally while collecting hairs and fibers should be handled delicately because a lot of those hairs and fibers can trace a suspect back to the actually crime scene. Hairs and fibers are two of the most important things to be collected at a crime scene. As I am imagining fibers would probably be hard to collect because they are so little. Forensic scientist could easily drop them and probably could not be found. To collect those hairs and fibers you have to handle them with care and be patient and gentle with them. I on the other hand is I am not very gentle and patience. So I being a forensic scientist is probably out of the question.

Citations for pictures

"Glassine Envelopes Manufacturer & Wholesale Supplier From Usa." Small Business Manufacturer, Wholesale Supplier, Buyers & Free Tender Information. Web. 29 Nov. 2011. <http://www.hellotrade.com/spexforensics/glassine-envelopes.html>.

This website gets credibility for the visual image of the plastic baggy of collected hairs and fibers.

Citations for research

"Evidence Collection Guidelines." Crime Scene Investigator Network. Web. 29 Nov. 2011. <http://www.crime-scene-investigator.net/collect.html>.

This website gets the credibility of the details of showing how to collect fibers and hairs form a crime scene.

Links

http://www.crime-scene-investigator.net/CAfiberandhair.pdf