Observation of three-dimensional internal structure of steel materials by means of serial sectioning with ultrasonic elliptical vibration cutting.

A three-dimensional (3D) internal structure observation system based on serial sectioning was developed from an ultrasonic elliptical vibration cutting device and an optical microscope combined with a high-precision positioning device. For bearing steel samples, the cutting device created mirrored surfaces suitable for optical metallography, even for long-cutting distances during serial sectioning of these ferrous materials. Serial sectioning progressed automatically by means of numerical control. The system was used to observe inclusions in steel materials on a scale of several tens of micrometers. Three specimens containing inclusions were prepared from bearing steels. These inclusions could be detected as two-dimensional (2D) sectional images with resolution better than 1 mum. A three-dimensional (3D) model of each inclusion was reconstructed from the 2D serial images. The microscopic 3D models had sharp edges and complicated surfaces.

Electrophysiological evidence for sequential discrimination of positive and negative facial expressions.

OBJECTIVE: To elucidate the differences in temporal processing between positive and negative facial expressions by using event-related potentials (ERPs) with spatially filtered images. METHODS: Based on the traits of parallel visual pathways, four types of facial expression images (happiness, fear, anger and neutral) with low, high and broadband spatial frequencies (LSF, HSF and BSF, respectively) were carefully created with the consideration of luminance, contrast and emotional intensity. These images were pseudo-randomly presented to 13 healthy subjects to record ERPs. Twenty recording electrodes were placed over the scalp according to the International 10-20 system. For emotion-relevant late negative components with latencies of 190-390 ms, the amplitude differences among the four facial expressions were analyzed for sequential 20-ms time windows by ANOVA. RESULTS: There were significant amplitude differences between positive and negative LSF facial expressions in the early time windows of 270-310 ms at the occipitotemporal region. Subsequently, the amplitudes among negative HSF facial expressions differed significantly in the later time windows of 330-390 ms. CONCLUSIONS: Discrimination between positive and negative facial expressions precedes discrimination among different negative expressions in a sequential manner based on parallel visual channels. SIGNIFICANCE: ERPs with spatially filtered images have provided the first evidence for sequential discrimination of positive and negative facial expressions.