Abstract: The invention relates to a three-dimensional cellular microcompartment or an assembly of three-dimensional cellular microcompartments of ovoid, cylindrical, spheroid or spherical shape, or substantially ovoid, cylindrical, spheroid or spherical shape, comprising an external hydrogel layer defining an internal part (14), said internal part comprising at least: extracellular matrix elements, and at least two cysts, each cyst being formed by at least one layer of human or animal cells organised three-dimensionally around a lumen, the smallest radius or the average radius of the internal part being at least 100 ?m. The invention also relates to a method for producing such a microcompartment or microcompartment assembly.

Abstract: A system and method for approximating parametric curves may subdivide curves using a minimum number of subdivisions while meeting a given error tolerance. The method may include determining a subdivision point such that the maximum chord error on one side of the point is equal to the maximum chord error on the other side of the point, the chord error being the distance between the curve and a linear approximation thereof. These techniques may be applied recursively to sub-portions defined by the subdivision point if the maximum error is greater than a pre-determined error tolerance. The pre-determined error tolerance may be a default tolerance, or may be application-specific or user-configurable, in various embodiments. By subdividing a curve into fewer segments than conventional methods, the system and methods described herein may allow an alternate representation of the curve to be generated that includes less data than one generated using conventional methods.