A further step could be to develop multifunctional structures, or structures that carry loads and perform system functions. Multifunctional system technologies such as conformal load bearing antenna structures, structurally integrated energy storage/harvesting, mechanised structural systems for morphing vehicle geometry, integrated/distributed sensing and associated technologies form the basis ...

Demographic noise causes unlimited population growth in a broad class of models which, without noise, would predict a stable finite population. We study this effect on the example of a stochastic birth-death model which includes immigration, binary reproduction, and death. The unlimited population growth proceeds as an exponentially slow decay of a metastable probability distribution (MPD) of t...

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are among the most natural applications of energy harvesting techniques. Sensor nodes, in fact, are usually deployed in harsh environments with no infrastructured power supply and they are often scattered over wide areas where human intervention is difficult and expensive, if not impossible at all. As a consequence, their actual lifetime is limited by the duratio...