Centro de Documentação da PJ
Monografia
 CD258 |
Development of a surrogate bruising detection system to describe bruising patterns associated with common childhood falls [Documento electrónico] / Gina Bertocci, Raymond Dsouza.- [Rockville, MD] : National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS), 2013.- 1 CD-ROM ; 12 cm
Project supported by Grant No. 2008-DD-BX-K311 awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, US Department of Justice. Ficheiro de 2,66 MB em formato PDF (66 p.). Resumo inserto na publicação.
CRIME CONTRA CRIANÇAS, VIOLÊNCIA CONTRA CRIANÇAS, ANÁLISE DE VESTÍGIOS, ASSISTÊNCIA MÉDICA, AGRESSÃO FÍSICA, MEDICINA LEGAL, MAUS TRATOS CONTRA CRIANÇAS
"Child abuse is a leading cause of fatality in children 0-4 years of age. Roughly 1500 children are fatally abused each year. Many serious injuries and fatalities could have been prevented if clinicians and child protective services were able to better distinguish between injuries associated with abuse and those caused by accidents. Clinicians, child protective services and law enforcement personnel must therefore be equipped with knowledge related to the types of injuries that are possible from common household accidents that are often reported to be the underlying cause of injury in child abuse. The ability to detect child abuse at the earliest stages has proven critical in the prevention of escalating injury severity and even death. Bruising is an early sign of abuse, and can be an effective indicator or sentinel of child abuse. Moreover, bruising patterns can provide a “roadmap” documenting a child’s exposure to impact or contact. Clinical studies have demonstrated that bruising characteristics differ in children exposed to abusive vs. accidental trauma. Our previous research has relied upon the use of instrumented anthropomorphic test devices (i.e. test dummies or human surrogates) to investigate injury risk in common childhood falls. However, existing test dummies do not have the capability of predicting soft tissue injury or potential bruising patterns; this capability could prove useful in the distinction between abusive and accidental injuries. Research Goals and Objectives: Our goal was to design and develop a prototype surrogate bruising detection device having the capability to predict potential bruising patterns in children when adapted to a test dummy used to simulate common household fall events often stated as false scenarios in child abuse. The scope of our project included the development of a “sensing skin” that can be adapted to a commercial test dummy representing a 12 month old child, along with a data acquisition system and software capable of displaying sensor output and location on a 3D representation of a human surrogate. When used in future mock laboratory experiments, the sensing skin-adapted test dummy will have the capability of measuring and recording levels of impact force, documenting the locations of impact on the test dummy, and representing the number of impact points encountered. Research Design and Methodology: Matrices of individual force sensing resistive sensors were designed and fabricated in-house to adapt to each body segment of the test dummy. These sensor matrices were enveloped between neoprene layers to form sensing skins. Data from the sensors were acquired through our custom-designed data acquisition system and compiled in a computerized 3D visual body map image capable of displaying the areas of contact or impact that represent potential bruising or soft tissue injury. This body map image will provide a “roadmap” of the child surrogate’s contact exposure during a specific event. Research Results and Conclusions: The primary outcome of our project is a prototype surrogate bruising detection device that includes: 1) custom-designed, low-cost force sensors that are integrated into matrices incorporated into a “skin” that adapts to a commercial 12 month old test dummy, 2) a data acquisition system that can capture and record force sensor output and location during a simulated fall or other event, 3) a computerized body mapping system that displays color-coded sensor output indicating the level of applied force to specific body regions, along with the location of force application. Our prototype surrogate bruising detection system will be capable of predicting potential bruising numbers, patterns and location when adapted to a child test dummy used in simulations of falls or other events".