segmentation partitioning an image to assign a label to every pixel or group of pixels with similar characteristics slot a part, element, or "property" of an object in the context of object-oriented programming in R classification the process of grouping observations in a dataset by their similarities in terms of measured characteristics feature extraction the process of building derived values to describe observations or features from the initial set of measured data, with the aim of creating a new set of characteristics that is informative. spatial point process mechanism that generates a random collection of coordinates or points randomly located along an underlying mathematical space. There is at most one point observed at any location. Poisson process mechanism that generates instantaneous events (in time and/or space) based on the Poisson distribution Ripley's K function a descriptive statistic for detecting the deviations from spatial homogeneity that can help determine if points are random, dispersed, or clustered pair correlation function a description of how the point density varies as a function of distance from the point of reference spatial transformation changes to a coordinate system that provides a new approach to defining variation of material parameters linear filter a tool for refining an image such that the output pixel is a combination of the time-varying input pixels subject to the constraint of linearity dynamic range the ratio or logarithmic value of the difference between the largest and smallest values noise reduction the process of removing the undesirable variation in image pixelation adaptive thresholding segmenting an image using smaller regions that are defined by the range of local intensity values binary image an image consisting of pixels that can only have one of exactly two values, usually black and white morphological operation image processing in which each individual pixel in the image is adjusted based on the other pixels in the neighborhood Voronoi tessellation partitioning an image plane into regions closest to each set of points. Line segments are formed equidistant to the two nearest points convex hull the smallest polygon that encloses all of the points of interest in a set spatial dependence the propensity for nearby points to influence each other and possess similar attributes virion infectious nucleic acid surrounded by a protective protein capsid actin globular proteins that form the microfilaments essential for cell mobility and division macrophages immune cells responsible for engulfing potential pathogens and other lymphatic particles dendritic cells immune cells responsible for processing foreign material and presenting it to other cells in the immune system light sheet microscopy a method that illuminates a specimen in a single plane and detected from the perpendicular direction