What is a migrant death? An operational definition for a more accurate enumeration of migrant mortality along the US-Mexico border.

Over the last forty years an indeterminate number of persons, ranging from thousands to tens of thousands, have died along the US-Mexico border during migration, fleeing poverty, armed conflict, situations of violence, and disasters. An accurate accounting of migrant deaths along the southern US border is the first step toward an understanding of the extent and the contributing factors of these deaths. In this article, we describe a key aspect of our collaborative work aimed at developing a more representative account of migrant mortality along the southwestern US border: the determination of criteria for inclusion of specific forensic cases as "migrant." Our intention is not to propose a definition of "what is a migrant death" applicable to all contexts and situations but rather one specific to the US-Mexico border region. Our main impetus is to build and launch a web portal to track and map migrant deaths at the US-Mexico border. The criteria we have identified are based on an examination of death data collected by various agencies in the four border states (California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas) and at the federal level by the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs). They include a) context of human remains discovery; b) identification media/documentation; c) geographic setting; and d) personal effects. Taken together, these criteria will facilitate our determination, case by case, of the probability that human remains found along the United States side of the border may be from a person in the context of migration.

Map silences and chronic humanitarian crises: Spatial patterns of migrant mortality in South Texas, 2009-2020.

Forensic and humanitarian interventions deployed to address migrant death in US southwestern border states have become increasingly prevalent over the past four decades. In this paper we address two persistent issues specific to the Texas-Mexico border context. First, we present the first comprehensive geospatial analysis of migrant deaths in South Texas, establishing a twelve-year (2009-2020) mortality profile. And second, we introduce the concept of necrosilences and its implications to both forensic and humanitarian work and usage of geospatial tools. We applied ANOVA, spatial statistics, and cluster analysis to test the relationships of migrant mortality point locations throughout South Texas, an area comprised of ten counties with some of the highest reported migrant deaths in the state. Our findings demonstrated that unidentified human remains that corresponded to migrants were found most consistently in jurisdictions inland from the Mexican border. Further, the map visualizations highlighted vast areas seemingly devoid of migrant deaths. These "empty" areas are emblematic of necrosilences. That is, instances where there is a lack of access or accounting rather than no death incidences. We conclude by discussing the importance of visualizing necrosilences.

Housing conditions as predictors of common childhood illness: Evidence from Nigeria Demographic and Health Surveys, 2008-2018.

Several studies have examined the impacts of water, sanitation, hygiene, and general housing conditions on childhood health in developing countries. However, up-to-date knowledge and change pattern in common childhood illness prevalence over time are scarce in Nigeria. To contribute toward meeting the Sustainable Development Goals three and six, we used pooled data (N = 94,053) from the Nigeria Demographic Health Surveys from 2008 to 2018 to examine the trend and determinants of four childhood illnesses: diarrhea, fever, cough, and respiratory infection. Multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate the determinants of the four health outcomes. Our results indicate that between 2008 and 2018, the prevalence of childhood diarrhea, cough, and fever slowly declined. However, there was a drastic decline in childhood-related respiratory illness. Housing conditions, sanitation facilities, and water sources were significantly associated with childhood illness based on the logistic regression analysis. Based on our findings, we recommend general improvement in housing conditions that can eradicate childhood cough, fever, and respiratory infections.

Phase II spatial patterning of vulture scavenged human remains.

This project expands on a pilot study by Spradley, Hamilton, and Giordano (2012) that investigated the patterns and effect of vulture scavenging of human remains, with special focus on the effect of microenvironments. Five donated bodies from the Willed Body Donation Program at Texas State University were placed in various locations at the university's Forensic Anthropology Research Facility (FARF). The bodies were monitored by motion capture cameras and after each vulture scavenging event the dispersal and location of the bodies' skeletal elements were mapped with a high accuracy GPS unit. The degree and direction of dispersal by vultures were then analyzed with GIS. Phase II revealed that vultures will begin scavenging at variable times, will continue to return to and move remains after a body has been skeletonized, and tend to move remains from higher elevations to lower elevations. The data also suggested that vultures may scavenge in larger groups (n > 20) in cooler temperatures, but in warm to hot temperatures they may scavenge more frequently in smaller groups (n ≈ 5). Future directions for vulture scavenging profiles are briefly discussed.

A Comparison of Different Age Estimation Methods of the Adult Pelvis.

The adult human pelvis is useful to estimate age because it contains three age indicators-the pubic symphysis, auricular surface, and acetabulum. This study tested the accuracy, inaccuracy, and bias of age estimation from the Suchey-Brooks pubic symphysis, Osborne auricular surface, Rissech and Calce acetabulum aging methods, and a summary age of these indicators. The study sample consisted of 212 White individuals with known age and sex from the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection. The Rissech method performed the best, was the most accurate method with smallest inaccuracy and bias, followed by the Osborne, Suchey-Brooks, summary age, and then Calce methods. Though the Pearson correlation showed only the Suchey-Brooks method to correlate significantly with known age, it is likely the Suchey-Brooks study sample coincidentally reflected the age distribution of this test sample. Results suggested that Bayesian prediction may improve age estimation and should be applied to other age indicators.