Validation studies on gender determination from fingerprints with special emphasis on ridge characteristics

Background The present work investigates the ridge characteristics and ridge density of fingerprints to determine gender differences among population of Punjab. The main characteristics studied were general pattern type, ridge density and minutiae or ridge characteristics with respect to general pattern type. Further, instead of using conventional method of ridge counting, Adobe Photoshop cs5 is used to conclude ridge density and minutiae characteristics. Experimental results shows, along with ridge density, minutiae characteristics procure special importance in determining the gender from fingerprints.