The identity of the earliest inhabitants of Xinjiang, in the heart of Inner Asia, and the languages that they spoke have long been debated and remain contentious1. Here we present genomic data from 5 individuals dating to around 3000–2800 bc from the Dzungarian Basin and 13 individuals dating to around 2100–1700 bc from the Tarim Basin, representing the earliest yet discovered human remains from North and South Xinjiang, respectively. We find that the Early Bronze Age Dzungarian individuals exhibit a predominantly Afanasievo ancestry with an additional local contribution, and the Early–Middle Bronze Age Tarim individuals contain only a local ancestry. The Tarim individuals from the site of Xiaohe further exhibit strong evidence of milk proteins in their dental calculus, indicating a reliance on dairy pastoralism at the site since its founding. Our results do not support previous hypotheses for the origin of the Tarim mummies, who were argued to be Proto-Tocharian-speaking pastoralists descended from the Afanasievo1,2 or to have originated among the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex3 or Inner Asian Mountain Corridor cultures4. Instead, although Tocharian may have been plausibly introduced to the Dzungarian Basin by Afanasievo migrants during the Early Bronze Age, we find that the earliest Tarim Basin cultures appear to have arisen from a genetically isolated local population that adopted neighbouring pastoralist and agriculturalist practices, which allowed them to settle and thrive along the shifting riverine oases of the Taklamakan Desert.

Highlights d Iron Age Shirenzigou individuals are genetically admixed of east and west Eurasians d The west Eurasian ancestry is most like Yamnaya related d The east Eurasian ancestry is more like northeast Asian related d Strong evidence for the introduction of Indo-European languages into Xinjiang

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Upward Sun River 1, an individual from a unique burial of the Denali tradition in Alaska (11500 calBP), is considered a type representative of Ancient Beringians who split from other First Americans 22000-18000 calBP in Beringia. Using a new admixture graph model-comparison approach resistant to overfitting, we show that Ancient Beringians do not form the deepest American lineage, but instead harbor ancestry from a lineage more closely related to northern North Americans than to southern North Americans. Ancient Beringians also harbor substantial admixture from a lineage that did not contribute to other Native Americans: Amur River Basin populations represented by a newly reported site in northeastern China. Relying on these results, we propose a new model for the genomic formation of First American ancestors in Asia.

Multifunctional magnetic/upconversion luminescent mesoparticles, consisting of a Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticle core and a LaF(3):Yb(3+), Er(3+) nanocrystal shell, have been developed using a facile co-precipitation approach. Owing to their excellent superparamagnetic properties, superior T(2)-enhanced magnetic resonance effect and strong upconversion emissions, the as-formed mesoparticles have great potential in diverse medical diagnostics and biological imaging.

A FPGA implementation for a model-based state of charge (SOC) estimation is described in this paper. A Thevenin equivalent circuit model is designed for SOC estimation. The extended Kalman filter (EKF) is designed to complete the SOC estimation, and the error is within 1 % . The FPGA is chosen to achieve realtime SOC estimation. A fast matrix method is proposed to improve the calculation speed of the EKF in FPGA because the EKF algorithm requires many matrix operations. In addition, the embedded system based on the FPGA with a system on a programmable chip (SOPC) technique is built using the Qsys platform in Quartus II. Based on the embedded system, an online testing platform is established to monitor the terminal voltage and load current of the experimental battery in real time; experimental results show that the online SOC estimation is successful. The measurement results show that the FPGA embedded scheme of the EKF allows for successful implementation of the SOC estimation with accuracy and speed. The fast matrix method requires 0.00007 s to implement the SOC estimation and is four times faster than the conventional matrix method.

Compared to inward foreign direct investment, outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) from China is a relatively new phenomenon. However, the volume of China's OFDI increased rapidly from 2004. There has been an increasing amount of literature on the motivations of China's OFDI, but few studies have focused on its location determinants. The present paper aims to fill this gap in the literature by focusing on two important location factors, natural resources and technology, which are the most important determinants of China's OFDI. We use a large panel dataset comprising 132 countries over the period 1991–2009 and the Tobit as well as the Heckman models to establish the relationship between the two location factors and China's OFDI. The empirical results suggest that although China's OFDI has been driven by the country's desire for a secure supply of natural resources and to attain advanced technology from the developed world, China's technology is also a critical attraction for the host developing economies.

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