The Uses of RIMAPS Technique in Microscopy: New Challenges

FAVRET E.

Praga

Congreso; 18th International Microscopy Congress. Microscopy for Global Challenges; 2014

International Federation of Societies for Microscopy

Visual observation has played a major role in all areas of natural science. Human beings perceive most of the information about their environment through their visual sense. However, quantitative evaluation of images never found widespread application until the born of personal computers. Applications in image processing have now been applied to all the sciences, linear and non-linear filter operations, fast algorithms, morphological operations to detect the shape of objects, segmentation and classification, reconstruction of three-dimensional objects and analysis of stereo images. Rotated Image with Maximum Average Power Spectrum (RIMAPS), created in 2002, is still a quite new imaging characterization technique independent of the class of microscopy and of conditions used for observation as long as they remain constant. It has been used to characterize the micro-relief of metallic and biological surfaces, such as the detection of incipient damage on metallic surfaces and as a tool for describing the morphology of the trichodium net found in some grasses. Nowadays we are using RIMAPS to study the distribution pattern of ornamentation units on fungal spore surface, to describe leaf surface topography, to perform micromorphological analyses of soil samples and for quantifying microwear traces on lithic artefacts in order to identify their context of use.