Influence of boundary effects on minimum spanning tree features. A computer simulation.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the influence of boundary effects on quantitative data derived from the minimum spanning tree (MST).


METHODS
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.


CONCLUSIONS
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.
Meijer
G A
GA
Department of Pathology, Free University Hospital, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
van Diest
P J
PJ
Baak
J P
JP
Brinkhuis
M
M
Beentjes
M
M
D003198:Computer Simulation; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008954:Models, Biological