FROM IMAGE-PROCESSING TO CLASSIFICATION .3. MATCHING PATTERNS BY SHIFTING AND STRETCHING

A method for the classification of electrophoretic patterns is describ ed and tested on a data set representing ten wheat varieties. The meth od attempts to match each electropherogram to each variety by a transf ormation involving displacement and stretching along the x-axis. This is done essentially by the method of least squares, which uses only th e information contained in the electropherogram itself to adjust it to the variety in question. The method is completely automatic and works extremely well by classifying 98% of the spectra correctly, judged by cross validation.