Anal Quant Cytol Histol. 1996 Jun;18(3):225-32.

Influence of boundary effects on minimum spanning tree features. A computer simulation.

Analytical and quantitative cytology and histology

G A Meijer, P J van Diest, J P Baak, M Brinkhuis, M Beentjes

PMID: 8790837

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To assess the influence of boundary effects on quantitative data derived from the minimum spanning tree (MST).

STUDY DESIGN: In a computer simulation, 10 patterns of points (resembling populations of nuclei in tumor tissue) were generated, ranging from completely regular to very irregular. This allowed for assessing the influence of boundary effects in populations with different degrees of disorder. A stepwise reduction of the size of the sampling window enabled the analysis of the influence of boundary effects at different sample sizes (from 1,024 down to 9 points).

RESULTS: Both the mean and coefficient of variation of all features remained rather constant with decreasing sample size down to a sample size of 64 points per MST.

CONCLUSION: Based on this model, it is concluded that boundary effects have only a minor influence on the outcome of MST features when the sample size is larger than 64 points.

MeSH terms

• Computer Simulation*
• Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / methods
• Models, Biological*

Publication Types

• Journal Article
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't