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[Display omitted] • Li mostly occurs as adsorption or ion exchange in clay minerals. • The depositional environment of the No. 2 coal alternates between a hydrostatic reducing condition and an anoxic reducing environment. • Multiple geological effects influence the dissolution and migration of element-enriched minerals, resulting in the enrichment of stable components. In order to study the enrichment mechanism and depositional environment of valuable elements, this paper reports new geochemistry and mineralogy data on the No. 2 and No. 5 coals of the Nangou Mine, Ningwu Coalfield. Clay minerals and calcite are the dominant minerals in both the No. 2 and No. 5 coals. Additionally, small amounts of pyrite, quartz, rutile, and zircon are observed under scanning electron microscopy in the No. 5 coal. The studied coals in Nangou Mine are enriched in Li (CC = 8.50 and 5.80, respectively in the No. 2 and No. 5 coal), Zr (CC = 21.87 and 5.53), Nb (CC = 16.97 and 2.54), Hf (CC = 14.00 and 4.19), Ga (CC = 2.56 and 2.41). Li mostly occurs as adsorption or ion exchange in clay minerals, Nb, Zr, Hf, and Ga have organic affinities, rare earth elements and Y are mostly found in residue and organic binding states. The sediment source of the Nangou Mine is characterized by a multi-source area, with the dissolution and migration of element-enriched minerals under the influence of multiple geological effects, leading to the enrichment of valuable elements (Li, Nb, Zr, Ga, and REY). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Two recent genome-wide association studies (GWASs) reported that the FAM13A gene at the 4q22 locus associated with pulmonary fibrosis (defined by rs2609255) overlapping with COPD (defined by rs6837671). We hypothesized that single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) related to lung disease (especially pulmonary fibrosis) identified in this region are also associated with the risk of silicosis. Methods To test this hypothesis, we genotyped these two SNPs (rs2609255 and rs6837671) in a case-control study including 177 silicosis cases and 204 controls with silica dust exposure years similar to the levels for cases in a Chinese population. Results We found that rs2609255 was significantly associated with increased silicosis risk (dominant model: OR = 1.71; 95% CI = 1.01–2.92; P  = 0.047). Additionally, eQTL analysis based on the GTEx database indicated that the rs2609255 polymorphism may alter the expression level of FAM13A in lung tissues ( P  = 1.8 × 10 −4 ). Furthermore, interaction analyses showed that rs2609255 interacts multiplicatively with years of silica dust exposure to contribute to silicosis risk (interaction P  = 0.040). Conclusions These results indicate that rs2609255 may modify silicosis susceptibility in the Chinese population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past century, it has long been debated in the archeological, historical, geographical, and many other related communities where the capital of the Luolan and Shanshan states was in the Lop Nor region. This paper presents three AMS radiocarbon ages from a newly-discovered ancient city at about 6.3 km to the northwest of the Xiaohe Graveyard, and fifteen new radiocarbon ages from the Loulan (LA), LE, Qieerqiduke, Milan, and Tuyin sites in Lop Nor. The new investigation shows that the age of newly- discovered ancient city is at ca. 440-500 AD, belonging to the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534 AD). This is about 100-300 years younger than Loulan (ca. 100-230 AD), LE (ca. 230-300 AD), Qieerqiduke (ca. 200 AD), and Tuyin (ca. 100 AD). A wooden beam from Milan fortress is dated to ca. 370 AD, while the age on north wall at west gate of the fortress is younger, around 770 AD, suggesting that its construction time might be at the Tang Dynasty. According to 14C ages, cultural relic style, and the geographical location, the newly-discovered ancient city is probably attributed to "Zhubin City", as documented in the historical literature. Temporally, we name the city "ancient Zhubin River City". However, the characteristics and functions of this ancient city are largely unknown and need more detailed archaeological excavation and investigation in the future. Given its location near the ancient postal relay of Alagan on the crossroad, there is no doubt that the newly-discovered city was at an important geographical position on the Silk Road, no matter whether it was called "Zhubin City", or "Lielo City", or the capital of Loulan state-"Yuni City". Our findings provide new evidence for the temporal and spatial distribution of ancient relic sites and the development of civilization in western China, thus contributing to our understanding of the relationship between human activities and environmental change in the Lop Nor region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a geoadditive model with spatial random effects to model the earthquake distribution in Mainland China. The error is modeled an infinite mixture of Gaussian distributions with a stochastic constraint that ensures inference on the quantiles of interest. The spatial random effects are used to capture individual area effects which allow for heterogeneity among regions. We run Bayesian quantile regression for the spatial trend of the geoadditive model under a flexible Bayesian framework. The proposed method not only allows for a full span of quantile-restricted error distributions, but also separates a large-scale geographical trend from local spatial correlation. This makes the Bayesian quantile regression feasible and flexible. Our method can be generalized to other applications that involve spatial correlation along irregular contours or in discontinuous spatial domains. Our results demonstrate the usefulness and effectiveness of the proposed methodology. • We propose a geoadditive model with spatial random effects to model the earthquake distribution in Mainland China. • The error is modeled an infinite mixture of Gaussian distributions with a stochastic constraint that ensures inference on the quantiles of interest. The spatial random effects are used to capture individual area effects which allow for heterogeneity among regions. • The proposed method not only allows for a full span of quantile-restricted error distributions, but also separates a large-scale geographical trend from local spatial correlation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]