Distribution of epidermal ridge minutiae

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Abstract
The distribution of epidermal ridge minutiae on the distal portion of male human thumbprints has been characterized. For each of 412 thumbprints, a centrally locatedfocal minutiawas chosen and neighboring minutiae were sampled. Minutiae were considered to be neighbors if there were no other minutiae appearing in the intervening region defined by the two minutia events and the ridge system. For each neighbor minutia, thetotal ridge distancebetween the focal and neighbor minutiae was measured. This distance is the total length of ridges appearing in the intervening region.The number of neighbor minutiae occurring about the focal minutia was found to be normally distributed with a mean of 6.42 (n = 412). The distribution of total ridge distances was not adequately described by the negative exponential distribution, but was well described by a gamma distribution with a shape parameter of 0.193 and a scale parameter of 5.91 mm. This gamma distribution reflects a local overdispersion of minutiae.This study is noteworthy as the first to describe the distribution of epidermal ridge minutiae within the ridge structure. The results support prior work based on quadrat sampling and eliminate two possible sources of error.A possible explanation for the overdispersed distribution lies in the growth stress model for minutia formation. Minutia formation may alleviate local growth stress, thereby removing the impetus for formation of additional minutiae in the immediately surrounding region.

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