Practical Stereology [Paperback]

Stereology is the science that relates three-dimensional structure to the two-dimensional images that can be measured. The most common field of application is in microscopy, both of man-made materials (metals, ceramics, composites, etc.) and of biological tissue samples. This book covers the applications and terminology of both fields. Recent emphasis in stereology is concerned with sampling strategies to avoid bias due to directionality and non-uniformity, and these methods are fully covered. So are the classic techniques that measure size distributions, surface curvature, etc., which are widely useful but not discussed in other recent texts. Finally, most stereology is taught as manual procedures using counting and grids, but this text also covers the use of modern desktop computers for image analysis and processing to obtain and interpret the stereological data.1: Introduction.- Elements of microstucture.- Geometric properties of features.- Typical stereological procedures.- Fundamental relationships.- Intercept length and grain size.- Curvature.- Second order stereology.- Stereology of single objects.- 2: Basic Stereological Procedures.- What stereology is.- How stereology works.- Why stereology works.- Ground rules for applying stereology.- 3: Geometry of Microstructures.- The qualitative microstructural state.- The quantitative microstructural state.- The topographic microstructural state.- 4: Classical Stereological Measures.- Two-dimensional structures; area fraction from the point count.- Volume fraction from the point count.- Two-dimensional structures; feature perimeter from the line intercept count.- Three-dimensional structures: surface area and the line intercept count.- Three-dimensional microstructures; line length and the area point count.- 5: Less Common Stereological Measures.- Three-dimensional features: topological properties and the volume tangent count.- Three-dimensional features: the mean caliper diameter.- Mean surface curvaturl£"