ABSTRACT
In this work, (Au79Ni17Pd4)96Ti4 (wt.%) filler alloy was designed and employed to join SiC ceramics. The effects of brazing temperature and soaking time on the microstructure and fracture morphology of joints were investigated. The results show that the joint obtained can be described as SiC/reaction layer/braze/reaction layer/SiC. The reaction layer was composed of TiC and Au (Si, Ti). The wettability of the filler alloy toward the SiC ceramics was analyzed. The braze zone was mainly constituted by Pd2Si, Ni2Si, and Au (Ni, Si). A large number of nano-sized TiC particles were distributed within the Au (Ni, Si) layer. The formation mechanism of the braze containing different phases was discussed. The brazing temperature and soaking time had a significant effect on the reaction layer at the SiC/braze interface and TiC particles within the Au (Ni, Si) layer, while they showed a negligible effect on the Pd2Si and Ni2Si within the braze. The inherent reason was also clarified in detail. The joint fractography indicated that a good bonding was achieved between the filler alloy and SiC, while joint fracture was primarily induced by the thermal stresses residing after the brazing cycle.
ABSTRACT
The N170 component is considered a neural marker of face-sensitive processing. In the present study, the face-sensitive N170 component of event-related potentials (ERPs) was investigated with a modified oddball paradigm using a natural face (the standard stimulus), human- and animal-like makeup stimuli, scrambled control images that mixed human- and animal-like makeup pieces, and a grey control image. Nineteen participants were instructed to respond within 1000 ms by pressing the 'F' or 'J' key in response to the standard or deviant stimuli, respectively. We simultaneously recorded ERPs, response accuracy, and reaction times. The behavioral results showed that the main effect of stimulus type was significant for reaction time, whereas there were no significant differences in response accuracies among stimulus types. In relation to the ERPs, N170 amplitudes elicited by human-like makeup stimuli, animal-like makeup stimuli, scrambled control images, and a grey control image progressively decreased. A right hemisphere advantage was observed in the N170 amplitudes for human-like makeup stimuli, animal-like makeup stimuli, and scrambled control images but not for grey control image. These results indicate that the N170 component is sensitive to face-like stimuli and reflect configural processing in face recognition.
ABSTRACT
Character processing is a crucial cognitive skill that is highly emphasized and industriously cultivated in contemporary society. In the present study, using a competition paradigm, we examined the electrophysiological correlates of different relationships between Chinese characters and faces and between Chinese characters and houses during early visual processing. We observed that identifiable Chinese characters compete primarily with faces rather than houses at an early visual processing stage, with a significantly reduced N170 for faces but not for houses, when they were viewed concurrently with identifiable characters relative to when they were viewed concurrently with unidentifiable characters. Consistent with our previous study, there was a significant increase in N170 after characters have been learned, indicating a modulatory effect of Chinese character identification level on N170 amplitude. Furthermore, we found an enlarged N170 in response to faces compared to houses, indicating that the neural mechanisms for processing faces and houses are different at an early visual processing stage.
ABSTRACT
Event-related potentials were used to investigate the neural correlates of two-digit exact and approximate addition calculations. The results showed that the dissociation between exact and approximate calculations began at approximately 150 ms after stimulus. In the left hemisphere, N170 amplitude elicited by exact calculation was larger than that elicited by approximate calculation; however, in the right hemisphere, N170 amplitudes elicited by the two calculation strategies were not significantly different. Moreover, a larger P3 amplitude was elicited by exact calculation than by approximate calculation. In the 130-210 ms windows, dipole source analysis of the difference wave (exact calculation minus approximate calculation) indicated that the generator of N170 was localized in the left fusiform gyrus.
