Figure 2

Granularity of Instance vs Granularity of Types. A) Compositional object partitions of an organ. Three partitions are shown: (i) into cells (q, r) and extracellular molecules (a-d); (ii) into organelles (m-p) and cellular molecules (a-h); and (iii) into organelle molecules (a-l). B) The bona fide granularity tree based on these three partitions. The organ itself and each of its partitions represent a cut in the tree and thus an instance granularity level. C) The extension of 'molecule' (i.e. the distribution of instances of 'molecule') of the organ crosses the boundaries of instance granularity levels. Therefore, the instance granularity tree cannot be directly transformed into or mapped upon a type granularity tree. But by following the simple and intuitive rule that a type occupies the lowest granularity level of its instances, one can nevertheless infer granularity levels for types.