Sensor networks consist of embedded devices deployed in different types of environments in order to sense its surroundings. Disaster management and rehabilitation is very important for all human beings. Environmental monitoring is the most important issue for everyday emergency situations and a significant driver for wireless sensor network research. Recent advances in electronics and communica...

Visual Determination of the Opacity of Emissions from Stationary Sources (Method 9) is a reference method established by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to quantify plume opacity. However, Method 9 relies on observations from humans, which introduces subjectivity. In addition, it is expensive to teach and certify personnel to evaluate plume opacity on a semiannual basis. In this stud...

Recent studies using direct covert observation or a fluorescent targeting method have consistently confirmed that most near patient surfaces are not being cleaned in accordance with existing hospital policies while other studies have confirmed that patients admitted to rooms previously occupied by patients with hospital pathogens have a substantially greater risk of acquiring the same pathogen ...

BACKGROUND Independent of current socioeconomic status (SES), past maternal SES might influence asthma outcomes in children. OBJECTIVE We examined associations among the mother's SES in the first 10 years of her life (maternal childhood SES), increased cord blood IgE levels (upper 20% [1.37 IU/mL]), and repeated wheeze (≥ 2 episodes by age 2 years) in an urban pregnancy cohort (n = 510). ME...

Monitoring data facilitate the basic understanding of changes taking place in nature and provide information for making management decisions, but environmental monitoring is often considered expensive. Here, we apply the concept of value of information to evaluate the value of marine monitoring in the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive context. We estimated the costs of the Finnish marine m...

The complex composition of secondhand smoke (SHS) provides a range of constituents that can be measured in environmental samples (air, dust and on surfaces) and therefore used to assess non-smokers' exposure to tobacco smoke. Monitoring SHS exposure (SHSe) in indoor environments provides useful information on the extent and consequences of SHSe, implementing and evaluating tobacco control progr...

As part of an environmental observation and forecasting system, sensors deployed in the Columbia RIver Estuary (CORIE) gather information on physical dynamics and changes in estuary habitat. Of these, salinity sensors are particularly susceptible to biofouling, which gradually degrades sensor response and corrupts critical data. Automatic fault detectors have the capability to identify bio-foul...

There is much interest in using high-throughput DNA sequencing methodology to monitor microorganisms, complex plant and animal communities. However, there are experimental and analytical issues to consider before applying a sequencing technology, which was originally developed for genome projects, to ecological projects. Many of these issues have been highlighted by recent microbial studies. Un...

In this chapter we target the problem of monitoring an environment with a team of mobile robots having on board video-cameras and fixed stereo cameras available within the environment. Current research regards homogeneous robots, whereas in this chapter we study highly heterogeneous systems and consider the problem of patrolling an area with a dynamic set of agents. The system presented in the ...