Basis pursuit inversion of seismic reflection data for reflection coefficients is introduced as an alternative method of incorporating a priori information in a seismic inversion process. The inversion is accomplished by building a dictionary of functions, representing seismic reflection responses, and constituting the seismic trace as a superposition of these responses. Basis pursuit decomposi...

JEL Classification J33, L85, M52. This study investigated the effects of salary structure, performance requirements, and type of business on the performance of housing agents. The participants in the study survey consisted of the employees of real estate firms in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Restricted and unrestricted regression models were used to compare the goodness-of-fit of the regression models. A...

Underwater hearing thresholds were measured at 100 Hz in trained spotted (Phoca largha) and ringed seals (Pusa hispida) before and immediately following voluntary exposure to impulsive noise from a seismic air gun. Auditory responses were determined from psychoacoustic data and behavioral responses were scored from video recordings. Four successive exposure conditions of increasing level were t...

The first near-side X-class flare of the Solar Cycle 24 occurred in February 2011 and produced a very strong seismic response in the photosphere. One sunquake was reported by Kosovichev ( Astrophys. J. Lett. 734, L15, 2011), followed by the discovery of a second sunquake by Zharkov, Green, Matthews et al. ( Astrophys. J. Lett. 741, L35, 2011). The flare had a two-ribbon structure and was associ...

Reliable seismic vulnerability analysis is generally based on time-domain simulations of structural responses. The seismic load is then modelled by a stochastic process, representing seismic ground motion. For this purpose, the analyst can use recorded accelerograms or work with synthetically generated ones. When performing advanced probabilistic analyses, synthetic accelerograms are often used...

This paper briefly reviews the development of earthquake resistant design of buildings. The state-of-the-art of seismic design is discussed from the viewpoint of the performance criteria of buildings. These are (a) serviceability from frequent minor-intensity earthquake motions, (b) repairability from an infrequent but major-intensity earthquake motion, and (c) life safety from the maximum poss...