Monitor lizards are emblematic reptiles that are widely distributed in the Old World. Although relatively well studied in vertebrate research, their biogeographic history is still controversial. We constructed a molecular dataset for 54 anguimorph species, including representatives of all families with detailed sampling of the Varanidae (38 species). Our results are consistent with an Asian ori...

This paper presents a procedure to optimize a conceptual ship side structure from a crashworthiness point of view. As an example, this procedure is presented for a chemical or product tanker. A particle swarm optimization algorithm is used for the procedure. The classification society compliance of the conceptual design is checked through service loads that are applied to the ship’s hull girder...

Considering a disastrous earthquake as a rare event, the aim of this study is to apply the proposed data construction method (DCM) to determine the possible distribution pattern of disastrous earthquakes in Taiwan. Owing to the availability of only a limited amount of data and based on the multiset division of DCM, virtual samples have been generated. The procedure is illustrated by a numerical...

Under certain conditions, high temperature electrons di€using across the separatrix near the midplane can propagate to the divertor without collision and produce a high energy tail in the electron distribution function near the separatrix. We evaluate a kinetic criterion along the ®eld using measurements from divertor Thomson scattering and compare temperature measurements from target plate Lan...

Mineral inclusions encapsulated in diamonds are the oldest, deepest, and most pristine samples of Earth's mantle. They provide age and chemical information over a period of 3.5 billion years--a span that includes continental crustal growth, atmospheric evolution, and the initiation of plate tectonics. We compiled isotopic and bulk chemical data of silicate and sulfide inclusions and found that ...

Bull, J.M., 1990. Structural style of intra-plate deformation, Central Indian Ocean Basin: evidence for the role of fracture zones. Tectanophysics, 184: 213-228. The structural style of the intraplate defo~ation developed in the Central Indian Ocean Basin was investigated in an area (7S” E-82* E, 0aS4i0S) to the west of the Afanasy Nikitin seamount using an integrated data set of seismic reflec...

It is not rare to observe subduction zones transferring into collision zones. However, it poorly understood the lateral variation in flexural deformation. Constrained by newly published seismic reflection data, we investigate mechanical behavior of lithosphere from oceanic at northern Manila trench using 3-D modeling. Results show that both plate rigidity and loadings increase zone Taiwan oroge...

Two recent M s 7.6 strike-slip which ruptured in an M s 7.9 event in 1958. West of earthquakes in the northern Gulf of Alaska ruplongitude 144øW, motion is accommodated by undertured a composite 250-km-long north-striking zone thrusting and subduction along the Aleutian megain the Pacific plate. These shocks are attributed thrust, which last slipped in the 1964 earthquake. to a combination of e...