we attempt to locate directly the boundaries that exist between the regions or
we seek to identify edge pixels and then link them together to establish the
required boundaries. Segmentations resulting from the two approaches may not
be exactly the same, but both approaches are useful to understanding and
solving image segmentation problems, and their combined use can lead to
improved performance [2–4]. Real-world applications in digital microscopy
often pose very challenging segmentation problems. Variations and combi-
nations of the basic techniques presented here often must be tailored to the
specific application to produce acceptable results.
9.1.1 Pixel Connectivity
Before introducing various methods for image segmentation, it is important to
understand ...