Photoelectron spectroscopy on Pt atoms and clusters deposited on C(0001)

An experimental photoelectron spectroscopy study is presented highlighting several aspects of importance for the study of deposited metal clusters and particles with photoemission. It is shown that the Fermi level is the correct energy reference for the core level binding energies. The choice of different deposition conditions, well within the range of soft landing, has a strong impact on the outcome of the spectroscopic experiments. Single adatoms as well as clusters deposited with some excess energy display relatively narrow core level spectra at much lower binding energies than previously reported, even when atomic mass selection is not performed. In contrast, single sized Pt19 clusters, deposited onto a thin Ar film before being exposed to the graphite surface show spectral broadening and shifts to higher binding energies. We discuss our results in terms of the cluster substrate interaction and the influence of deposition conditions on the metal adsorbate structure.

A Scenario Planning Approach for Shelter Location and Evacuation Routing

Emergency planning operations are one of the key aspects of Disaster Operations Management (DOM) [1]. This work presents a scenario-based location-allocation-routing model to optimise evacuation planning decisions, including where to establish shelter sites and which routes to arrange to reach them, across different network disruption scenarios. The model considers both supported-evacuation and self-evacuation. The objective is to minimise the duration of the supported-evacuation while guaranteeing that the routes of self-evacuees do not exceed a given travelling time threshold. Both shelter location and routing decisions are optimised so as to identify solutions which perform well across different disruption scenarios. A mathematical formulation of this model is provided, which can be solved through a general-purpose solver optimisation package for modest size instances. Some computational results are reported

A multi-agent approach to professional software engineering

The community of agent researchers and engineers has produced a number of interesting and mature results. However, agent technology is still not widely adopted by industrial software developers or software companies - possibly because existing frameworks are infused with academic premises that rarely apply to industrial settings. In this paper, we analyse the requirements of current industry-driven software projects and show how we are able to cope with these requirements in the Java Intelligent Agent Componentware agent framework, JIAC V. We argue that the lack of industry-grade requirements and features in other agent frameworks is one of the reasons for the slow acceptance of agent technology in the software industry. The JIAC V framework tries to bridge that gap - not as a final solution, but as a stepping stone towards industrial acceptance