Bible binding techniques: Analysis of spine lining constructions and endpaper reinforcements

The Bible has been the largest selling book title in the world. However, very little research of Bible binding techniques has been done. Most Bibles contain more than two thousand pages of Bible paper. Therefore, such books are usually thick and heavy. Thin bible papers provide very little strength for the joint. The strength and durability of a bound product depends on good joint adhesion. The goal of this study was to investigate various joint constructions between the cover and the bookblock of Smyth-sewn Bible bindings. The spine lining and endpaper reinforcement are two most important factors of joint construction. Loose back and tubular lining are techniques used to reinforce adhesion of the bookblock to the cover. Whipstitched signature and hinged endpaper are two major endpaper reinforcement techniques of Bible bindings. 78 Bibles were tested utilizing UBT tumble test, Hingepull test, and Page-pull test. The books were approximately 6 x 9 in size, weighed three pounds using the same Bible papers. The results were analyzed by a two-way ANOVA with optional Duncan Multiple-Range Test at a 95% confidence level, and compared with the hypotheses concerning bookbinding strength and durability. Furthermore, graphical analyses were made by plotting treatment means for each tests. Firstly, it was questioned if there were any significant differences in the Smyth-sewn hardcover Bible binding strength between the different spine lining constructions of loose back and tubular liner. The statistical analysis and the graphical analysis of UBT tumble test results indicated that there was evidence of extreme differences in durability due to spine lining constructions, and that books constructed with tubular liner looked to be much more durable than books constructed in loose back. On the contrary, the analyses of Hinge-pull test results revealed that there was no significant variability due to spine lining constructions. This considerable discrepancy would result from the nature of the test methods and the nature of materials used. It seemed that in each tests, the stresses and forces distressed the tubular liner materials in the different ways to make them fail during testing. However, the UBT tumble test is considered to have shown and given the best correlation to the physical breakdown of books in actual use. Thus it would be reasonable to conclude that tubular liner constructions are assumed to increase binding durability as compared to loose back constructions. Secondly, it was questioned if there were any significant differences in the strength of Smyth-sewn hardcover Bible bindings between the different endpaper constructions of four-page tipped-on endpaper, hinged endpaper, and whipstitched signature. The statistical and graphical analyses of UBT tumble test and Hinge-pull test indicated that there was evidence of significant differences in durability among three different endpaper constructions, and that books constructed with hinged endpaper reinforcement was more durable than books constructed with four-page tipped-on endpaper and whipstitched signature. Surprisingly the most inferior endpaper construction in durability was whipstitched signature reinforcement construction. Whipstitching resulted in the highest page-pull values, but it seemed to make the first and last signature areas relatively stiff so that, if tumbled, destructive forces and stress took havoc with the poorly flexing hinges. The books which were bound with hinged endpaper reinforcement (for both spine lining constructions of tubular liner and loose back) and the books which were bound with four-page tipped-on endpaper and tubular liner showed a significant superiority in binding strength and durability to others

Spatial intensity prior correction for tissue segmentation in the developing human brain

pre-printThe degree of white matter (WM) myelination is rather inhomogeneous across the brain. As a consequence, white matter appears differently across the cortical lobes in MR images acquired during early postnatal development. At 1 year old specifically, the gray/white matter contrast of MR images in prefrontal and temporal lobes is limited and thus tissue segmentation results show commonly reduce accuracy in these lobes. In this novel work, we propose the use of spatial intensity growth maps (IGM) for T1 and T2 weighted image to compensate for local appearance inhomogeneity. The IGM captures expected intensity changes from 1 to 2 years of age, as appearance inhomogeneity is highly reduced by the age of 24 months. For that purpose, we employ MRI data from a large dataset of longitudinal (12 and 24 month old subjects) MR study of Autism. The IGM creation is based on automatically co-registered images at 12 months, corresponding registered 24 months images, and a final registration of all image to a prior average template. In template space, voxelwise correspondence is thus achieved and the IGM is computed as the coefficient of a voxelwise linear regression model between corresponding intensities at 1-year and 2-years. The proposed IGM shows low regression values of 1-10% in GM and CSF regions, as well as in WM regions at advanced stage of myelination at 1-year. However, in the prefrontal and temporal lobe we observed regression values of 20-25%, indicating that the IGM appropriately captures the expected large intensity change in these lobes due to myelination.The IGM is applied to cross-sectional MRI datasets of 1-year old subjects via registration, correction and tissue segmentation of the corrected dataset. We validated our approach in a small study of images with known, manual "ground truth" segmentations. We furthermore present an EM-like optimization of adapting existing non-optimal prior atlas probability maps to fit known expert rater segmentations

Homeoprotein Hbx4 represses adhesion molecule governing cytokinesis and development

Homeobox genes encode proteins with a highly conserved DNA-binding motif and provoke morphological diversification of body segments by differentially controlling the expression of downstream targets. Here, we have identified _hbx4_, one of many homeobox genes in _Dictyostelium discoideum_ and investigated its role during growth and development. In suspension, Hbx4-overexpressing cells, Hbx4^OE^, showed defects in cytokinesis and growth rate. During development, Hbx4^OE^ and _hbx4_-disrupting cells, _hbx4¯_ made differences in shape of mound and slug, cell-type proportioning from wild type KAx3 cells. These phenotypes were similar to those of mutant defective in _cadA_ encoding Ca^2+^-dependent cell adhesion molecule so that we investigated the relationship between _hbx4_ and _cadA_. Overexpression of Hbx4 inhibited the expression of _cadA_ and cAMP also failed to stimulate _cadA_ in Hbx4^OE^. Furthermore, gel mobility shift assay showed the promoter of _cadA_ contained Hbx4-binding site, indicating Hbx4 negatively regulates the expression of _cadA_. Proteome analysis revealed that overexpression of Hbx4 repressed the _rdiA_ and _abpB_ encoding rho guanine nucleotide dissociation inhibitor1, RhoGDI1 and actin bundling protein 34, ABP34, respectively. And the overexpression of _cadA_ in Hbx4^OE^ cells rescued the defects and increased mRNA level of _rdiA_, _abpB_ and one of Rho GTPase, _rac1b_. These results suggested that Hbx4 can modulate cytokinesis, cell sorting and cell-type proportioning by repressing _cadA_ that regulates GTPase-dependent signaling pathway