Numerical Features added to Mastodon

Spot Features

Feature name

Projections

Description

Formula/Visualisation

Spot Ellipsoid

Short semi axes, Middle semi axis, Long semi axis

The ellipsoid semi axes in ascending order of length.

The semi axes are computed applying the square root to the eigenvalues of the so-called covariance matrix of the spots

Volume

The volume of the ellipsoid.

Example visualization: spotVolumeAnimation.gif

Spot Ellipsoid Aspect Ratios

Aspect ratio short to middle

The ratio between the short axis and middle axis.

Aspect ratio short to long

The ratio between the short axis and long axis.

Example visualization: spotEllispoidAspectRatioAnimation.gif

Aspect ratio middle to long

The ratio between the middle axis and long axis.

Spot Branch ID

idem

The ID of the branch spot each spot belongs to.

Spot Relative Movement*

x, y and z component

The x, y and z components of the movement distance of a spot relative to its n nearest neighbors. The number of neighbors to be considered can be specified by the users. Default is 5.

Example visualization: spotRelativeMovementXAnimation.gif

distance

The movement distance relative to n nearest neighbors.

Example visualization: spotRelativeMovementSpeedAnimation.gif

Branch Features

Feature name

Projections

Description

Formula/Visualisation

Branch N Leaves

idem

The total number of leaves of a branch spot in the whole track subtree of this branch spot.

Example visualization: branchNLeavesAnimation.gif

Branch N Successors and Predecessors

idem

Total number of successors and predecessors of a branch spot in the whole track subtree of this branch spot.

Example visualization:
Successors (encodes reproductivity) branchNSuccessorsAnimation.gif
Predecessors (encodes generation) branchNPredecessorsAnimation.gif

Branch Start and End Timepoints

idem

The first timepoint and the last timepoint of a branch spot.

Example visualization:
First timepoint branchFirstTimepoint.gif
Last timepoint branchLastTimepoint.gif

Branch Sinuosity

idem

The sinuosity of a spot during its life span (cf. Sinuosity), i.e. how much the track represented by the branch is curved. Values close to 1: almost straight movement. Values significantly higher than 1: winding or meandering movement. Positive infinity (∞), if the spot is at the end at the same position as at the beginning, but has moved in between.

Example visualization: branchSinuosityAnimation.gif

Branch Average Movement

idem

The average movement per frame of a spot during its life span.

Example visualization: branchAverageMovementAnimation.gif



e.g.:

Branch Movement Direction

idem

The movement direction of a branch spot represented as a normalized directional vector pointing from the start (spot) position to the end (spot) position of the BranchSpot.

Example visualizations:
x-component branchMovementDirectionXAnimation.gif
y-component branchMovementDirectionYAnimation.gif
z-component branchMovementDirectionZAnimation.gif

Branch Cell Division Frequency

idem

Number of cell divisions in the subtree rooted at each Branch-spot divided by total duration of branches in this sub-tree.

Example visualization: branchCellDivisionFrequencyAnimation.gif

Branch Relative Movement*

x, y and z component

The x, y and z components of the average speed of a spot during its life span relative to its n nearest neighbors. The number of neighbors to be considered can be specified by the users. Default is 5.

average speed

The average speed of a spot during its life span relative to its n nearest neighbors.

Example visualization: branchRelativeMovementAnimation.gif

‘*’ The relative movement features cannot be called from the FeatureComputer directly. Instead, they can be accessed via the plugin menu: Plugins > Compute Features > Movement of spots relative to nearest neighbors