Taking the orientation score framework one step further

In recent years the orientation score framework was developed at the BioMedical Image Analysis (BMIA) research group at Eindhoven University of Technology. This framework facilitates the processing of images with crossing lines. Basis of this framework is the transformation of an image to a space with higher dimensionality. In this space the added dimensions represent the local orientation. This results for a 2D image in a 3D orientation space; for every pixel an orientation distribution is calculated along the third axis. The fibrous collagen network in tissue is very determining for its mechanical properties. In tissue engineering it turns out that resembling the mechanical properties of native tissue is very difficult. Thereby it is still not entirely clear how the mechanical properties in living tissue depend on the collagen network. And also the influence of mechanical load on the collagen network is not yet fully understood. The quantification of the collagen network can give more insight in these issues, it is shown here that the OS framework is a very useful tool for this. Written in Mathematica 6.0.