Collaborative distributed decision making for large scale disaster relief operations: Drawing analogies from robust natural systems

One of the most ignored, but urgent and vital challenges confronting society today is the vulnerability of urban areas to extreme events. Current organization of response systems, predominantly based on a command and control model, limits their effectiveness and efficiency. Particularly, in decision‐making processes where a large number of actors may be involved. In this article, a new distributed collaborative decision‐making model is proposed to overcome command and control limitations encountered in stressful, hostile, chaotic, and large‐scale settings. This model was derived by borrowing concepts from the collective decision making of honeybees foraging, a successful process in solving complex tasks within complex settings. The model introduced in this article was evaluated through differential equations, i.e., continuous analysis, and difference equations, i.e., discrete analysis. The most important result found is that the best available option in any large‐scale decision‐making problem can be configured as an attractor, in a distributed and timely manner. We suggest that the proposed model has the potential to facilitate decision‐making processes in large‐scale settings. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 11:28–38, 2005     

Labile Interactions Defined in Crystalline Metal Complexes

The problems involved in identifying and quantifying labile interactions considered to influence complex compound structures are highlighted through the assessment of four different families of metal complexes for which extensive crystallographic data are available. Modification of the charge distribution within a ligand molecule as a result of coordination is one factor with a number of ramifications. A detailed analysis of evidence for both intra- and inter-molecular attractions in dimethylsulfoxide complexes of metal perchlorates is used to provide a basis for the consideration of weak interactions between complex ions involving forces including phenyl-group attractions, hydrogen bonding and cavity inclusion.     

氟代吡啶阳离子的理论研究

利用量子化学密度泛函理论B3LYP方法及 6 31G(d ,p)、6 311G(d ,p)、6 31+G(d ,p)和 6 311+G(d ,p)基组对五氟代吡啶、2 ,6 二氟代吡啶和 2 氟代吡啶分子的阳离子进行了计算研究 .B3LYP构型优化和频率分析计算结果表明这三种氟代吡啶阳离子的结构分别具有C2v、C2v和Cs 对称性 ,电子基态分别为2 A2 、2 A2 和2 A″ .对离子和分子的计算构型做了比较 .利用B3LYP方法和不同的基组对这三种阳离子及其分子进行了自然布居分析计算 .用B3LYP方法对这三种阳离子 (自由基 )中的超精细结构进行了计算 ,对五氟代吡啶、2 ,6 二氟代吡啶和2 氟代吡啶分子的垂直电离势和绝热电离势进行了计算 ,与实验值符合得很好     

Kinetic Studies on the Reaction of Sodium Hexa-cyanoferrate(II) Complex with Peroxydisulfate Anion

Introduction In the previous studies on the oxidation reaction,peroxydisulfate was widely used as an oxidizingagent.1-5 One of the advantages of this oxidant lies in itsstability in a wide range of pH values. The reaction be-tween Fe(CN)5L3- (L=N-aromatic heterocyclic li-gands) and S2O8 2- has been proved to proceed throughan outer-sphere electron transfer mechanism.5 For a re-action [(Eq. (1)] to be under an outer-sphere mechanismthe steps involved are the formation of a reactant …     

Theoretical Study on the Long-lived Complexes for the Na＋I2 Collision System

For the Na I2 collision system, theoretical study is performed on the QCISD(T) level by using ab initio method. The ab initio potential energy surfaces are got and on them the long-lived complexes are found and optimized. These results verify the crossed molecule beam experimental phenomenon and the detailed geometry structures are given for the first time. The role of the complexes in the reaction path is also described in detail.     

Synthesis and Photochemical Properties of a New Substituted Phenol Covalently Linked to Ruthenium （Ⅱ） Tris-bipyridine Containing Four Ester Groups as Sensitizer

As photosensitizer for solar cell, a new ruthenium (Ⅱ) complex with four ester groups had been synthesized, in which a phenol substituted by {[(2-hydroxy-5-tert-butylbenzyl)(pyridyl-2-methyl)amino]methyl} is covalently linked to ruthenium (Ⅱ) tris-bipyridine. The structures of the new compounds were confirmed by NMR and ESI-MS spectra. The electrochemical and photochemical properties were also studied.     

Continuous dependence on modelling for a complex Ginzburg–Landau equation with complex coefficients

Continuous dependence on a modelling parameter is established for solutions of a problem for a complex Ginzburg–Landau equation. A homogenizing boundary condition is also used to discuss the continuous dependence results. We derive a priori estimates that indicate that solutions depend continuously on a parameter in the governing differential equation. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ground-state complex formation of perylene with pyromellitic dianhydride studied by static fluorescence quenching

The association of complex formation with static quenching in CT systems was investigated. Evaluation of the data made evident that the inner filter effect must be allowed for. Time-resolved and temperature-dependent stationary measurements of fluorescence led to the separation of dynamic and static quenching components. The static quenching constant is discussed with respect to the equilibrium constant of complex formation determined by absorption spectroscopy.     

Comparison of Thermodynamic Characteristics of a Potential Well under Quantum and Classical Approaches

The conjecture according to which the mean energy of an equilibrium system in quantum theory exceeds the mean energy of the corresponding classical system is considered. It is rigorously proved that the conjecture holds for the potential well. The estimates for the mean energy of the potential well at high and low temperatures are of special interest.