• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.56-67
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• 2021

Due to the difficulty of grading visualized fingerprints with previously known evaluation methods for the comparison of split fingerprints, a preliminary study was performed with the densitometric image analysis (DIA) method as a potential quantitative and supplementary evaluation method. Each image of inked split fingerprints was divided into 4 zones for analysis. Weekly intra- and inter- analysis by two analysts with three whole fingerprints that were constructed by combining inked split fingerprints showed that the average area values and the ranges of difference fluctuation were not significantly different between strong fingerprints and strong-weak pairs, while they were different in weak fingerprints and weak-weak pairs. In the case of weak fingerprints, the exact acquisition of ridges was difficult and this seemed to influence the results. An additional study is needed for the improved reliability using DIA method with weak fingerprints such as 8 zones division rather than 4 zones. In addition, the analysis results performed by several analysts at different times should be used to improve the reliability of the analysis method further. Based on the above result, it can be judged that utilizing the DIA method as a secondary evaluation method of the existing scoring system would be effective with the additional studies especially on weak fingerprints.

• Korean Security Journal
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• no.61
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• pp.377-400
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• 2019

Photography is the most commonly used method of documenting the crime and incident scene as it helps maintaining chain of custody (COC) and prove integrity of the physical evidence. It can also capture phenomena as they are. However, digital images can be manipulated and lose their authenticity as admissible evidence. Thus only limited techniques can be used to enhance images, and one of them is Fourier transform. Fourier transform refers to transformation of images into frequency signals. Fast Fourier transform (FFT) is used in this study. In this experiment, we overlapped fingerprints with graph paper or other fingerprints and separated the fingerprints. Then we evaluated and compared quality of the separated fingerprints to the original fingerprints, and examined whether the two fingerprints can be identified as same fingerprints. In the case of the fingerprints on graph paper and general pattern-overlapping fingerprints, fingerprint ridges are enhanced. On the other hand, in case of separating complicated fingerprints such as core-to-core overlapping and delta-to-delta overlapping fingerprints, quality of fingerprints can be deteriorated. Quality of fingerprints is known to possibly bring negative effects on the credibility of examiners. The result of this study may be applicable to other areas using digital imaging enhancement technology.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.86-97
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• 2020

Reconstruction and separation of explosive-contaminated overlapping fingerprints constitutes an analytical challenge of high significance in forensic sciences. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) allows real-time chemical mapping by detecting the light emissions from laser-induced plasma and can offer powerful means of fingerprint classification based on the chemical components of the sample. During recent years LIBS has been studied one of the spectroscopic techniques with larger capability for forensic sciences. However, despite of the great sensitivity, LIBS suffers from a limited detection due to difficulties in reconstruction of overlapping fingerprints. Here, the authors propose a simple, yet effective, method of using chemical mapping to separate and reconstruct the explosive-contaminated, overlapping fingerprints. A Q-switched Nd:YAG laser system (1064 nm), which allows the laser beam diameter and the area of the ablated crater to be controlled, was used to analyze the chemical compositions of eight samples of explosive-contaminated fingerprints (featuring two sample explosive and four individuals) via the LIBS. Then, the chemical validations were further performed by applying the Raman spectroscopy. The results were subjected to principal component and partial least-squares multivariate analyses, and showed the classification of contaminated fingerprints at higher than 91% accuracy. Robustness and sensitivity tests indicate that the novel method used here is effective for separating and reconstructing the overlapping fingerprints with explosive trace.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.18
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• pp.295-302
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• 1998

Classification of fingerprints is one of the major subjects on which many researchers have been studying for efficient identification. But fingerprints should be preprocessed in various ways prior to being classified. Factors such as the accuracy and the processing time should be considered in classification of fingerprints. In this paper, we propose a method for classifying fingerprints into several frequent patterns. This method consists of two stages. A fingerprint image is first converted to a skeleton form to find out the center. Then it is identified as a member of one of preclassified pattern by the frequency domain feature. Experiments show that the proposed method is quite useful in classifying fingerprints into typical patterns.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.237-241
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• 2022

The effect of washing fingerprints deposited on glass that were contaminated with a flammable liquid (gasoline, kerosene, diesel, and thinner) was studied by washing with hexane or heptane. The fingerprints were visualized using fuming cyanoacrylate, followed by basic yellow 40 staining. After comparing the washing effect, by dividing one fingerprint into four sections, it was confirmed that the ridge detail was damaged by dissolving the fingerprints in flammable liquid. As a result of washing fingerprints contaminated with flammable liquids using hexane or heptane, fingerprints contaminated with gasoline, kerosene, and thinner did not show a washing effect because the ridge detail was damaged at the time of contamination, and only fingerprints contaminated with diesel exhibited improved ridge detail quality. Because hexane and heptane washing damage the ridge detail, it was found that fingerprints contaminated with gasoline, kerosene, and thinner were better enhanced directly without the washing process. In addition, it was found that the amount of the washing solvent and contact time should be minimized when washing fingerprints contaminated with diesel.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.324-331
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• 2023

Latent fingerprints on wet paper cannot be developed using amino acid reaction reagents. Therefore, physical developer (PD) or lipid staining reagents like oil red O (ORO) should be utilized. However, ORO is not very effective in developing fingerprints that are older than approximately 4 weeks. On the other hand, PD performs well in developing older fingerprints, but it cannot do so for relatively fresh fingerprints. Additionally, PD has the disadvantage of taking a long time to develop fingerprints. In this study, in order to overcome the limitations of PD, we attempted to increase its reactivity by applying Ag-PD, which involves depositing silver onto paper using vacuum metal deposition (VMD), and compared this with fingerprints developed using ORO and PD. As a result, Ag-PD showed superior fingerprint development compared to ORO and PD on wet paper stored for 2~8 weeks, and the fingerprint development time for PD was significantly reduced to 90~150 seconds.

• Journal of information and communication convergence engineering
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.132-146
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• 2020

Biometric technologies have become widely available in many different fields. However, biometric technologies using existing physical features such as fingerprints, facial features, irises, and veins must consider forgery and alterations targeting them through fraudulent physical characteristics such as fake fingerprints. Thus, a trend toward next-generation biometric technologies using behavioral biometrics of a living person, such as bio-signals and walking characteristics, has emerged. Accordingly, in this study, we developed a bio-signal authentication algorithm using electrocardiogram (ECG) signals, which are the most uniquely identifiable form of bio-signal available. When using ECG signals with our system, the personal identification and authentication accuracy are approximately 90% during a state of rest. When using fingerprints alone, the equal error rate (EER) is 0.243%; however, when fusing the scores of both the ECG signal and fingerprints, the EER decreases to 0.113% on average. In addition, as a function of detecting a presentation attack on a mobile phone, a method for rejecting a transaction when a fake fingerprint is applied was successfully implemented.

• Journal of Information Processing Systems
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.22-33
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• 2019

This paper introduces an efficient fingerprint matching method based on multiple reference minutiae points. First, we attempt to effectively align two fingerprints by employing multiple reference minutiae points. However, the corresponding minutiae points between two fingerprints are ambiguous since a minutia of one fingerprint can be a match to any minutia of the other fingerprint. Therefore, we introduce a novel method based on linear classification concept to establish minutiae correspondences between two fingerprints. Each minutiae correspondence represents a possible alignment. For each possible alignment, a matching score is computed using minutiae and ridge orientation features and the maximum score is then selected to represent the similarity of the two fingerprints. The proposed method is evaluated using fingerprint databases, FVC2002 and FVC2004. In addition, we compare our approach with two existing methods and find that our approach outperforms them in term of matching accuracy, especially in the case of non-linear distorted fingerprints. Furthermore, the experiments show that our method provides additional advantages in low quality fingerprint images such as inaccurate position, missing minutiae, and spurious extracted minutiae.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2022

This study suggests a new one-step fluorescent cyanoacylate-fuming method for developing fingerprints by using a CAB mixed with dimethylaminobenzalde (DMAB) and cyanoacylate (CA) in a specific ratio. CAB is prepared by mixing 2.5 % (w/w) DMAB with CA and fumigated at 180 ℃. Under these conditions, developing fingerprints showed the best results. The fuming method using CAB develops latent fingerprints into fluorescence and has a higher sensitivity than CA, and it showed comparable or better contrast to existing fluorescence enhancement methods. It was also applicable on a variety of non-porous surfaces that can be encountered at ordinary times. This method is more useful than conventional fluorescent dyeing methods in that it minimizes damage to fingerprints or samples, makes it easy to manufacture, saves time, and can use existing current equipment as it is.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.197-200
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• 2010

All citizens over 17 year old living in Korea have to be fingerprinted to obtain a certificate of resident registration. For this reason, human identification through fingerprints has been used actively in crime scene investigation. The fingerprint is so unique that it is one of the most certain ways to identify oneself and it can differentiate between genetically identical twins. Fingerprints gained in crime scene indicate a direction of criminal investigation in conjecturing a suspect. Fingerprints help a reunion of family got scattered for a long time and make it possible to get a personal identification for missing person who met with natural calamity. We developed a new fingerprinting method using safranine O, so as to develop fingerprints on the adhesive tapes and non-porous papers in various physical environments. Results were compared to the preexisting fingerprinting method, the minutiae numbers of fingerprints were greatly increased in our newly developed safranine O fingerprinting method. This newly developed safranine O method showed a quantity and quality comparable to the preexisting fingerprinting method routinely used in these days. In our hands, the safranine O fingerprinting method is another easy and obvious choice when the forensic case sample is available for fingerprints on the adhesive tapes and non-porous papers.