Glossary

A

alignment

B

C

csv

Comma Separated Values (CSV) is an ASCII plain-text file format where columns of data are separated by commas.

D

DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a double-helix polymer of four molecules Cytosine, Guanine, Adenine and Thymine. It is the genetic material of the vast majority of organisms (some viruses use Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) as their genetic material).

E

F

flattening

The process of removing tilt from an image.

G

Git

Git is a free, open source version control system for managing software projects and development.

GitHub

GitHub is a website for sharing and collaboratively working on software that is version controlled using Git.

Grain

The name given to DNA/RNA/protein structures observed in scans.

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Python

Python is the high-level interpreted programming language in which TopoStats is written.

Q

R

S

scars

Artefacts seen in some scans that can be removed during processing. Typically they appear as horizontal high bands. These are removed and the missing values interpolated.

skeleton

The single-pixel width outline of a molecule after a grain has undergone tracing.

T

tilt

tracing

The processing step where by a grain is reduced to a single pixel or skeleton. Typically a number of statistics on the shape, length and curvature are calculated after molecules have been traced.

U

V

W

X

Y

Z