Embedded Sensor System for Early Pathology Detection in Building Construction

Structure pathology detection is an important security task in building construction, which is performed by an operator by looking manually for damages on the materials. This activity could be dangerous if the structure is hidden or difficult to reach. On the other hand, embedded devices and wireless sensor networks (WSN) are becoming popular and cheap, enabling the design of an alternative pathology detection system to monitor structures based on these technologies. This article introduces a ZigBee WSN system, intending to be autonomous, easy to use and with low power consumption. Its functional parts are fully discussed with diagrams, as well as the protocol used to collect samples from sensor nodes. Finally, several tests focused on range and power consumption of our prototype are shown, analysing whether the results obtained were as expected or not

Effects of internal fluctuations on the spreading of Hantavirus

We study the spread of Hantavirus over a host population of deer mice using a population dynamics model. We show that taking into account the internal fluctuations in the mouse population due to its discrete character strongly alters the behaviour of the system. In addition to the familiar transition present in the deterministic model, the inclusion of internal fluctuations leads to the emergence of an additional deterministically hidden transition. We determine parameter values that lead to maximal propagation of the disease, and discuss some implications for disease prevention policies