Quantifying "pattern": a stereological approach.

At present, a number of stereological techniques are available for the estimation of size parameters of aggregates (such as Vv, Sv, size distributions, and so forth) from data measured on plane sections. In this paper, an attempt is made to find a suitable quantification of spatial relationships which can be satisfactorily used for discrimination purposes whenever the traditional size parameters fail to do so. The proposed techniques of pattern analysis are very simple and strongly connected with the classical theory and practice of stereology; this should render them very accessible to scientists working in different fields, such as biology, geology, ecology, geography, etc.