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The detachment regimes and corresponding detachment height of lower liquid from a coated bubble during the bubble passage through an immiscible liquid–liquid interface were studied. High-speed imaging techniques were used to visualize the lower liquid detachment from a rising bubble near the interface. Analysis of industrial slag samples by a scanning electron microscope (SEM) was also carried out. The results indicate that the detachment height of lower liquid from a rising bubble showed a distinct correlation to penetration regimes. Bubble size and a fluid’s physical properties exerted a significant influence on the detachment height of the lower liquid. The detachment height for medium bubbles (Weber number: 4~4.5; Bond number: 2.5~7.5) varied significantly with increasing bubble size, which contributes to the lower liquid entrainment in the upper phase due, significantly, to the higher detachment height and large entrainment volume. The maximum detachment height for large bubbles is limited to approximately 100 mm due to the early detachment with the liquid column at the interface though large bubbles transporting a larger volume of lower liquid into the upper phase.

Abstract Dromaeosaurids were bird-like dinosaurs with a predatory ecology known to forage on fish, mammals and other dinosaurs. We describe Daurlong wangi gen. et sp. nov., a dromaeosaurid from the Lower Cretaceous Jehol Biota of Inner Mongolia, China. Exceptional preservation in this specimen includes a large bluish layer in the abdomen which represents one of the few occurrences of intestinal remnants among non-avian dinosaurs. Phylogenetically, Daurlong nests among a lineage of short-armed Jehol Biota species closer to eudromaeosaurs than microraptorines. The topographic correspondence between the exceptionally preserved intestine in the more stem-ward Scipionyx and the remnants in the more birdlike Daurlong provides a phylogenetic framework for inferring intestine tract extent in other theropods lacking fossilized visceral tissues. Gastrointestinal organization results conservative among faunivorous dinosaurs, with the evolution of a bird-like alimentary canal restricted to avialan theropods.

Anatomical network analysis (AnNA) is a systems biological framework based on network theory that enables anatomical structural analysis by incorporating modularity to model structural complexity. The human brain and facial structures exhibit close structural and functional relationships, suggestive of a co-evolved anatomical network. The present study aimed to analyze the human head as a modular entity that comprises the central nervous system, including the brain, spinal cord, and craniofacial skeleton. An AnNA model was built using 39 anatomical nodes from the brain, spinal cord, and craniofacial skeleton. The linkages were identified using peripheral nerve supply and direct contact between structures. The Spinglass algorithm in the igraph software was applied to construct a network and identify the modules of the central nervous system-craniofacial skeleton anatomical network. Two modules were identified. These comprised an anterior module, which included the forebrain, anterior cranial base, and upper-middle face, and a posterior module, which included the midbrain, hindbrain, mandible, and posterior cranium. These findings may reflect the genetic and signaling networks that drive the mosaic central nervous system and craniofacial development and offer important systems biology perspectives for developmental disorders of craniofacial structures.

More and larger blast furnaces have been constructed for ironmaking across the world in recent years due to the advantages of high productivity, high energy efficiency and low cost. Slag plays important role in a blast furnace to produce high-quality hot metal and maintain smooth operations. Liquidus temperatures are the essential information of the slag to avoid the formation of the solid phase during the ironmaking process and slag tapping. The principal components of the iron blast furnace slags can be described by the system CaO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2. With the significant changes in the raw materials and different requirements of the blast furnace operations, phase equilibria in this slag system have been extensively investigated from different directions. Phase diagrams were presented in various pseudo-ternary and pseudo-binary forms to meet the requirements of wide applications. Reliable thermodynamic modelling is the target of the researchers which can predict accurate liquidus temperatures of the slag. Development of the reliable thermodynamic modelling relies on systematic and accurate experimental data including liquidus temperatures and compositions of the solid solutions. Experimental data on the phase equilibria of the system CaO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2 are summarised and compared with the thermodynamic predictions which can provide systematic information for the researchers and blast furnace operators.

The increased utilization of pellets in blast furnaces is one of the directions for low-carbon ironmaking. As a result, the low slag rate may affect the desulfurization of the hot metal and the removal of alkali in the blast furnace. Effective desulfurization and the removal of alkali in the low slag ironmaking process have become the focus of the steel industry. In this paper, the effects of slag quantity, temperature, reaction time and slag composition on the desulfurization and removal of alkali were studied using the slag-metal reaction method. It was found that the slag quantity had the same influence trend on the desulfurization and the removal of alkali. The greater the slag quantity, the more effective the desulfurization and the removal of alkali. The slag composition, temperature and reaction time had the opposite effect on the desulfurization and the removal of alkali. High temperature, long reaction time, high MgO concentration, high CaO/SiO2 ratio and low Al2O3 concentration increased the desulfurization of hot metal but reduced the removal rate of alkali from the blast furnace. Applications of the experimental results on high-proportion pellet blast furnace operation are discussed.

With the raw materials for ironmaking becoming increasingly complex, more accurate phase equilibrium information on the slag is needed to refine the blast furnace operation to reduce the energy cost and CO2 emissions. CaO-SiO2-Al2O3-MgO is a basic system of ironmaking slag in which CaO and MgO mainly come from the flux, SiO2 and Al2O3 are mainly from raw materials. The effect of flux additions on the phase equilibrium of the slag can be described by a pseudo-ternary system CaO-MgO-(Al2O3+SiO2) at a fixed Al2O3/SiO2 ratio of 0.4. Liquidus temperatures and solid solutions in the CaO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2 system with Al2O3/SiO2 weight ratio of 0.4 have been experimentally determined using high temperature equilibration and quenching techniques followed by electron probe microanalysis. Dicalcium silicate (Ca2SiO4), cordierite (2MgO·2Al2O3·5SiO2), spinel (MgO·Al2O3), merwinite (3CaO·MgO·2SiO2), anorthite (CaO·Al2O3·2SiO2), mullite (Al2O3·SiO2), periclase (MgO), melilite (2CaO·MgO·2SiO2-2CaO·Al2O3·SiO2) and forsterite (Mg2SiO4) are the major primary phases in the composition range investigated. A series of pseudo-binary phase diagrams have been constructed to demonstrate the application of the phase diagrams on blast furnace operation. Composition of the solid solutions corresponding to the liquidus have been accurately measured and will be used for the development of the thermodynamic database.