Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Characterizing polygonality in biological structures.

Luciano da Fontoura Costa1, Fernando Rocha, Silene Maria Araújo de Lima

  • 1Instituto de Física de São Carlos. Universidade of São Paulo, P.O. Box 369, São Carlos, SP 13560-970, Brazil. luciano@if.sc.usp.br

Physical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics
|February 21, 2006
PubMed
Summary

This study introduces angular regularity to quantify spatial order in systems like cells and molecules. This new method, using Voronoi tessellations, offers improved sensitivity over traditional nearest neighbor distances for analyzing spatial patterns.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Multi-hazard exposure in public schools of a medium-sized city: outdoor road dust contamination, and indoor Rn risk.

Environmental geochemistry and health·2026
Same author

Supraphysiological Doses of Vitamin A Promote Changes in Hippocampal Oscillation Bands and Cardiac Activity in Wistar Rats.

ACS omega·2026
Same author

ACCU-RATES: A Web Tool for Accurate Enzyme Kinetics and Initial Reaction Rate Measurements.

Journal of molecular biology·2026
Same author

Physico-chemical behaviour and microbiological suitability of residual smectitic soils mixed with two mineralized waters for therapeutic and dermocosmetic applications.

International journal of biometeorology·2026
Same author

Ecological quality status of the Ilha Grande Bay (SE Brazil) through foraminiferal morphology and eDNA metabarcoding approaches.

Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987)·2025
Same author

Indoor PM<sub>10</sub> from fireplace, wood- and coal stove: morphology, composition, and oxidative potential in real residential settings.

Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987)·2025

Area of Science:

  • * Quantitative analysis of spatial arrangements in biological and physical systems.
  • * Development of novel metrics for characterizing order and regularity.

Background:

  • * Traditional methods for quantifying spatial order, such as nearest neighbor distances and cell side counts, have limitations.
  • * Understanding spatial organization is crucial for biological and physical investigations.

Purpose of the Study:

  • * To introduce and evaluate angular regularity as a superior metric for quantifying spatial order.
  • * To compare the performance of angular regularity with existing methods.

Main Methods:

  • * Generation of Voronoi tessellations for each element in the system.
  • * Estimation of angular regularity by comparing angles of adjacent cells to a reference angle (e.g., 60 degrees for hexagonality).

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • * Angular regularity demonstrates enhanced sensitivity and discrimination power compared to conformity ratio and cell side counts.
  • * The method effectively quantifies hexagonality and other spatial symmetries.
  • * Successful application to both synthetic (perturbed hexagonal lattices) and real-world data (retinal mosaics).

Conclusions:

  • * Angular regularity provides a more sensitive and powerful approach to characterizing spatial order.
  • * The method is effective in analyzing systems with varying degrees of local organization and spatial gradients.