Mechanism and simulation of droplet coalescence in molten steel

Droplet coalescence in liquid steel was carefully investigated through observations of the distribution pattern of inclusions in solidified steel samples. The process of droplet coalescence was slow, and the critical Weber number(We) was used to evaluate the coalescence or separation of droplets. The relationship between the collision parameter and the critical We indicated whether slow coalescence or bouncing of droplets occurred. The critical We was 5.5, which means that the droplets gradually coalesce when We ≤ 5.5, whereas they bounce when We > 5.5. For the carbonate wire feeding into liquid steel, a mathematical model implementing a combined computational fluid dynamics(CFD)–discrete element method(DEM) approach was developed to simulate the movement and coalescence of variably sized droplets in a bottom-argon-blowing ladle. In the CFD model, the flow field was solved on the premise that the fluid was a continuous medium. Meanwhile, the droplets were dispersed in the DEM model, and the coalescence criterion of the particles was added to simulate the collision-coalescence process of the particles. The numerical simulation results and observations of inclusion coalescence in steel samples are consistent.

酸性聚离子液体溶胀诱导自组装形成类蜂窝状固体酸催化剂及其高效催化水解反应

酸催化反应在化学工业中占据着十分重要的地位.传统的液体酸催化剂催化性能优异,但面临着能耗高,腐蚀设备和环境污染严重等问题.相比于传统的液体酸催化剂,固体酸催化剂,如分子筛和磺酸树脂等大大缓解了经济和环境方面的问题,但也存在着催化活性差和易失活等缺陷.酸性聚离子液体因其高密度的反应活性位点,可设计调变的结构和酸性以及可循环利用等特性而成为一种新型的高效多相酸催化剂,引起了广泛的研究兴趣.然而,当酸性聚离子液体用作催化剂时,由于其酸中心不能充分地暴露在反应底物中,使得它们的催化活性难以达到甚至超越均相催化剂的水平.因此,发展一种催化活性高于均相的酸性聚离子液体催化剂仍是一个巨大的挑战.我们研究组发现在反应底物中溶胀的聚离子液体可作为一种准均相催化剂,其催化活性与相应的均相离子液体相当,这为提高多相催化剂的催化活性提供了一种新的策略.本文报道了一种在水中溶胀且自组装成类蜂窝状网络结构的酸性聚离子液体催化剂,该催化剂在水解和水合反应中表现出优异的催化性能,其活性高于均相酸催化剂.首先通过自由基聚合和酸化两步合成了一系列在水中高度溶胀的酸性聚离子液体(SAPIL-1-6).以三甲基磷氧(TMPO)为探针分子,用31P魔角旋转核磁共振(31P-TMPO NMR)对SAPILs的酸性进行了分析.结果表明,SAPILs具有中等强度的单一酸性.热重分析表明SAPILs拥有优异的热稳定性能(300-345℃),显著地优于商用磺酸树脂Amberlite IR-120(H)(245℃).扫描电镜和冷冻电镜表明,当SAPILs在水中溶胀时,无孔的结构会自发地形成微米级三维类蜂窝状网络结构.这些类蜂窝状网络结构的酸性聚离子液体在催化乙酸环己酯水解制备环己醇中表现出卓越的催化性能,其催化活性明显高于多相酸催化剂(Amberlite IR-120(H)和H-ZSM-5)和均相酸催化剂(硫酸,对甲苯磺酸和均相酸性离子液体[VSIm]HSO4).通过气相色谱定量分析了在一系列模拟的反应体系中溶胀SAPIL-1内部和外部各组分的平衡浓度,发现SAPIL-1内部乙酸环己酯的浓度和乙酸环己酯与环己醇的摩尔比分别是其外部的7.5-23.3倍和4.5-16.4倍,这表明在反应过程中乙酸环己酯被大量富集.此外,SAPILs在环己烯直接水合制备环己醇以及环氧乙烷水合制备乙二醇的反应中均表现出优异的催化性能.值得说明的是,SAPILs具有很好的循环使用性能,10次循环后催化活性无明显改变.这些具有蜂窝状结构和对反应底物高富集SAPILs的成功合成及应用为开发高效的多相酸催化剂提供了一种新的思路.

A perspective on the electrocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide to methanol with metallomacrocyclic catalysts

Electrocatalytic carb on dioxide reducti on(CO_(2)R)presents a promising route to establish zero-e mission carb on cycle and store in termittent ren ewable energy into chemical fuels for steady energy supply.Methanol is an ideal energy carrier as alternative fuels and one of the most important commodity chemicals.Nevertheless,methanol is currently mainly produced from fossil-based syngas,the production of which yields tremendous carb on emission globally.Direct CO_(2)R towards metha nol poses great potential to shift the paradigm of methanol production.In this perspective,we focus our discussions on producing methanol from electrochemical CO_(2)R,using metallomacrocyclic molecules as the model catalysts.We discuss the motivation of having methanol as the sole CO_(2)R product,the documented application of metallomacrocyclic catalysts for CO_(2)R,and recent advance in catalyzing CO_(2) to methanol with cobalt phthalocyanine-based catalysts.We attempt to understand the key factors in determining the activity,selectivity,and stability of electrocatalytic CO_(2)-to-methanol conversion,and to draw mechanistic insights from existing observations.Finally,we identify the challenges hindering methanol electrosynthesis directly from CO_(2) and some intriguing directions worthy of further investigation and exploration.

Role of the Hippocampus in Distinct Memory Traces: Timing of Match and Mismatch Enhancement Revealed by Intracranial Recording

A previous functional magnetic resonance imaging study reported evidence for parallel memory traces in the hippocampus： a controlled match signal detecting matches to internally-generated goal states and an automatic mismatch signal identifying unpredicted perceptual novelty. However, the timing information in this process is unknown. In the current study, facilitated by the high spatial and temporal resolution of intracranial recording from human patients, we confirmed that the left posterior hippocampus played an important role in the goal match enhancement effect, in which combinations of object identity and location were involved. We also found that this effect happened within 520 ms to 735 ms after the probe onset, ＊150 ms later than the perceptual mismatch enhancement found bilaterally in both the anterior and posterior hippocampus. More specifically, the latency of the perceptual mismatch enhancement effect of the right hippocampus was positively correlated with the performance accuracy. These results suggested that the hippocampus is crucial in working memory if features binding with location are involved in the task and the goal match enhancement effect happens after perceptual mismatch enhancement, implying the dissociation of different components of working memory at the hippocampus. Moreover, single trial decoding results suggested that theintracranial field potential response in the right hippocampus can classify the match or switch task. This is consistent with the findings that the right hippocampal activity observed during the simulation of the future events may reflect the encoding of the simulation into memory.

Chirality communications between inorganic and organic compounds

1|INTRODUCTION Chirality spans over almost every size range,from mole-cules to biological systems and even to galaxies.It is one of the fascinating geometrical properties with a lot of amazing manifestations in the material world.As chemi-cal researchers,we are more interested in chirality at the molecular scale and nanoscale.Chiral molecules are found important in life science,agrochemicals,pharma-ceutical industries,biosensing,display materials,and so forth.1–5 Chirality stems from a structure lacking sym-metry elements of inversion symmetry and mirror‐plane,which makes the structure not superimposable with its mirror image.Without these two kinds of symmetries,any structure is chiral,besides conventional chiral organics or spiral inorganic structures.The essence of chirality is the stereochemistry of molecules or nanostructures.

An experimental study on RH vacuum chamber with a weir

A new Ruhrstahl-Heraeus(RH)equipment with a weir added to the vacuum chamber was designed to help improve refining efficiency of low-carbon steel production.The flow characteristics of the new RH equipment and a traditional RH equipment were evaluated and compared through water modeling experiments and an optimized calculation model.In the water experiments,the mixing time,the residence time and the circulation flow rates were measured,and the flow simulating molten steel in the vacuum was photographed.The results show that the decarburization efficiency in the new RH equipment is much improved.The mixing time is equal to or less than that of the latter when the gas flow rate is higher than 2.33 m^(3)/h.The proportion of the piston flow increases by at least 40%,and the proportion of the well-mixed flow decreases from greater than 40%to less than 20%.The effective flow rate of the new RH equipment increases greatly in the piston flow zone and the total lag flow zone based on the residence time distribution experiment.In conclusion,when a weir is added to a RH vacuum chamber,the effective circulation flow increases significantly,and the decarburization rate KC of molten steel at low-carbon stage is improved.

Basic fibroblast growth factor protects against influenza A virus-induced acute lung injury by recruiting neutrophils

Influenza virus (IAV)infection is a major cause of severe respiratory illness that affects almost every country in the world.IAV infections result in respiratory illness and even acute lung injury and death,but the underlying mechanisms responsible for IAV pathogenesis have not yet been fully elucidated.In this study,the basic fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2)level was markedly increased in H1N1 virus-infected humans and mice.FGF2,which is predominately derived from epithelial cells,recruits and activates neutrophils via the FGFR2-PI3K-AKT-NFKB signaling pathway.FGF2 depletion or knockout exacerbated influenzaassociated disease by impairing neutrophil recruitment and activation.More importantly,administration of the recombinant FGF2 protein significantly aUeviated the severity of IAV-induced lung injury and promoted the survival of IAV-infected mice.Based on the results from experiments in which neutrophils were depleted and adoptively transferred,FGF2 protected mice against IAV , infection by recruiting neutrophils.Thus,FGF2 plays a critical role in preventing IAV-induced lung injury,and FGF2 is a promising potential therapeutic target during IAV infection.

Injectable cartilage matrix hydrogel loaded with cartilage endplate stem cells engineered to release exosomes for non-invasive treatment of intervertebral disc degeneration

Low back pain,mainly caused by intervertebral disc degeneration(IVDD),is a common health problem;however,current surgical treatments are less than satisfactory.Thus,it is essential to develop novel non-invasive surgical methods for IVDD treatment.Here,we describe a therapeutic strategy to inhibit IVDD by injecting hydrogels modified with the extracellular matrix of costal cartilage(ECM-Gels)that are loaded with cartilage endplate stem cells(CESCs).After loaded with CESCs overexpressing Sphk2(Lenti-Sphk2-CESCs)and injected near the cartilage endplate(CEP)of rats in vivo,ECM-Gels produced Sphk2-engineered exosomes(Lenti-Sphk2-Exos).These exosomes penetrated the annulus fibrosus(AF)and transported Sphk2 into the nucleus pulposus cells(NPCs).Sphk2 activated the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase(PI3K)/p-AKT pathway as well as the intracellular autophagy of NPCs,ultimately ameliorating IVDD.This study provides a novel and efficient non-invasive combinational strategy for IVDD treatment using injectable ECM-Gels loaded with CESCs that express Sphk2 with sustained release of functional exosomes.

The Synthesis of Sub-Nano-Thick Pd Nanobelt-Based Materials for Enhanced Hydrogen Evolution Reaction Activity

Tailoring atomic structures of noblemetal nanomaterials with size close to single-unit cell range is essential in both fundamental researchand applications,including their development into high catalytic performance materials in renewable,green energy conversions,devices for energy storage,and as biosensors for environmental pollutants.However,several strategies used in fabricating these materials still impose enormous challenges,arising from lack of even size distribution,shape uniformity,and controlled composition,which are critical in determining their specific activities and efficiencies.Herein,we report a facile approach for preparing sub-nano-thick palladium nanobelt-based(PdNB)materials.Then we rationalized the formation mechanism of such highly anisotropic structures by morphology-related thermodynamic and kinetic analysis.Moreover,we investigated if electrocatalysis performance of these NB-basedmaterialswere enhanced.Thepalladium(Pd)NBs featured a thickness of∼0.9-1.2 nm and width of 5-18nmwith length extending to severalmicrometers[denoted as Pd(0.9)],or a thickness of∼0.7-0.9 nm and width of 2.5-6 nmwith length of several hundreds of nanometers[denoted as Pd(0.7)].According to our theoretical analysis,one-dimensional(1D)growth encountered almost no energy barrier at optimal reaction conditions,whereas the growth of Pd nanostructures with other dimensions confronted high barriers,indicating that it was plausible to prepare 1D structures with sizes close to single-unit cells.Also,platinum(Pt)could be successfully doped into the Pd(0.9)NBs through a galvanic epitaxial growth,forming edge-Pt-enriched Pd NBs(eePtPd NBs).Further,electron transfer from Pd to Pt imparted the eePtPd NBs with high hydrogen evolution reaction(HER)activity.The eePtPd NBs showed a 3.5 and 1.8 times higher in exchange current density and mass activity(at−0.1 V),respectively,compared to those of Pt catalysts in perchloric acid(HClO_(4))solutions.Finally,the NBs all showed high activity toward ethanol and formic acid oxidation reactions.Our current work aids in gaining insights into tailoring Pd nanostructures at an atomic level and provides Pd sub-nanometric 1D structures for further research.Moreover,our morphology-related thermodynamic and kinetic analysis extend our understanding of the control of nanostructure morphology and might shed light on the precision of designing specific morphologies of noble metal nanocrystal structures.

Three-dimensional macroscale assembly of Pd nanoclusters

Construction of macro-materials with highly oriented microstructures and well-connected interfaces between building blocks is significant for a variety of applications. However, it is still challenging to confine the desired structures. Thus, well-defined building blocks would be crucial to address this issue. Herein, we present a facile process based on 1.8 nm Pd nanoclusters （NCs） to achieve centimeter-size assemblages with aligned honeycomb structures, where the diameter of a single tubular moiety is -4 μm. Layered and disordered porous assemblages were also obtained by modulating the temperature in this system. The reconciled interactions between the NCs were crucial to the assemblages. As a comparison, 14 nm Pd nanoparticles formed only aggregates. This work highlights the approach of confining the size of the building blocks in order to better control the assembly process and improve the stability of the structures.

Spatio-temporal flow maps for visualizing movement and contact patterns

The advanced telecom technologies and massive volumes of intelligent mobile phone users have yielded a huge amount of real-time data of people’s all-in-one telecommunication records,which we call telco big data.With telco data and the domain knowledge of an urban city,we are now able to analyze the movement and contact patterns of humans in an unprecedented scale.Flow map is widely used to display the movements of humans from one single source to multiple destinations by representing locations as nodes and movements as edges.However,it fails the task of visualizing both movement and contact data.In addition,analysts often need to compare and examine the patterns side by side,and do various quantitative analysis.In this work,we propose a novel spatio-temporal flow map layout to visualize when and where people from different locations move into the same places and make contact.We also propose integrating the spatiotemporal flow maps into existing spatiotemporal visualization techniques to form a suite of techniques for visualizing the movement and contact patterns.We report a potential application the proposed techniques can be applied to.The results show that our design and techniques properly unveil hidden information,while analysis can be achieved efficiently.