Inference of genetic structure and demographic history is fundamental issue in evolutionary biology. We examined the levels and patterns of genetic variation of a widespread mangrove species in the Indo-West Pacific region, Bruguiera gymnorrhiza, using ten nuclear gene regions. Genetic variation of individual populations covering its distribution range was low, but as the entire species it was ...

The geometry of the LMC bar is studied using the dereddened mean magnitudes of the red clump stars ( ) I0 from the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment II catalog. The value of is found to vary in the east-west I0 direction such that both the east and the west end of the bar are closer to us with respect to the center of the bar. The maximum observed variation has a statistical significance...

Solar concentrators offer good promise for reducing the cost of solar power. Planar waveguides equipped with a microlens slab have already been proposed as an excellent approach to produce medium to high concentration levels. Instead, we suggest the use of a cylindrical microlens array to get useful concentration without tracking during the day. To use only a seasonal tracking system and get th...

Field mapping and geochronologic and thermobarometric analyses of the Gurla Mandhata area, in southwest Tibet, reveal major middle to late Miocene, east-west extension along a normal-fault system, termed the Gurla Mandhata detachment system. The maximum fault slip occurs along a pair of low-angle normal faults that have caused significant tectonic denudation of the Tethyan Sedimentary Sequence,...

When planning the most efficient route from one location to another, people tend to prefer southern routes over northern routes of equal length and complexity. This asymmetry has been attributed to implicit associations between cardinal direction and relative elevation (i.e., north = higher), and holds even when regional topography conflicts with these associations. No such asymmetry has been o...

Boabs, a close relation of the African baobabs, are found only in the Kimberley region of Western Australia and a region close by in the Northern Territory. Here several of the words for the boab tree and its parts are examined with special emphasis on loanwords which cross language family boundaries going in a west-east direction. It is proposed that this linguistic diffusion may reflect dispe...

The geometry of the LMC bar is studied using the de-reddened mean magnitudes of the red clump stars (I0 ) from the OGLE II catalogue. The value of I0 is found to vary in the east-west direction such that both the east and the west ends of the bar are closer to us with respect to the center of the bar. The maximum observed variation has a statistical significance of more than 7.6 σ with respect ...