Abstract

The purpose of this work was to investigate the influence of individual and location differences on the quantitative estimation of hair follicle patterns for goatskins using the K-function (L-function) method. Five pieces of chrome-tanned goatskins were used in this study. Hair follicle patterns of butt, shoulder and belly locations for goatskins were observed by a digital microscope and were quantitatively estimated using K-function (L-function) method. As a result, a characteristic L-function for goatskin was observed. No individual differences in hair follicle patterns of goatskins were observed for both observation images and quantitative estimation. On the other hand, since the mean distance between two hair follicles for belly location was longer than those for butt and shoulder locations, small location differences were observed for goatskins. However, for all samples and locations, the L-function seemed low by comparison with random distribution within the region of the existence of three guard hair follicles. In conclusion, it was found that a characteristic L-function for the hair follicle patterns of goatskin was observed and the K-function (L-function) method becomes a useful tool to quantitatively estimate hair follicle patterns of goatskins.