A B S T R A C THydrocarbon pollution represents one of the most serious issues for the health of the extremely fragile marine ecosystem, and strategies for its monitoring have been growing in number and complexity in the last decades. Therefore, the realization of systems able to detect the presence of pollutants in the marine environment has become extremely complex, involving different figures and integrated technologies. This paper presents an innovative model for the real-time assessment of pollutants on the sea surface based on a network of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), which are able to sail the sea surface, equipped with sensors capable of detecting volatile organic compounds produced by hydrocarbons. In particular, within this context, an AUV equipped with an electronic nose-like system is proposed, with the sensors employed that were characterized both on the laboratory bench and at sea. The results obtained confirmed the feasibility of the approach proposed as well as good reliability of the data acquired, confirming the likely employment of this system within an integrated marine monitoring tool.

The pleated ascidian Styela plicata (Lesueur, 1823) is a solitary species commonly found in ports and marinas around the world. It has been recorded in the Mediterranean region since the mid-19th century. In the present work, the species' genetic diversity was analysed, employing a 613-bp portion of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene from 149 individuals collected in 14 ports along Italian coasts at spatial scales ranging from 1 to approximately 2200 km. Haplotype and nucleotide diversity values were h = 0-0.933 (total h = 0.789) and p = 0-0.145 (total p = 0.0094), respectively. A general southward trend of increasing within-population genetic diversity was observed. Analysis of molecular variance revealed significant genetic structuring but no significant differences were detected among basins, and no isolation by distance was found. Our data were integrated with the COI sequences available from previous studies and re-analysed in order to investigate the possible

Hydrocarbon pollution represents one of the most serious issues for the health and entirety of the extremely fragile marine ecosystem, thus, the strategies for its monitoring have been grown in number and complexity in the last decades. Therefore, the realization of systems able to detect the presence of pollutants in the marine environment has become extremely complex, involving different figures and integrated know-hows. This paper presents an innovative model for the real-time assessment of pollutants on sea surface based on a network of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), also able to sail the sea surface, equipped with sensors, capable of detecting volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced by hydrocarbons. In particular, within this context, an AUV equipped with an E-Nose-like system is proposed, with the sensors employed that were characterized both on laboratory bench and at sea. The results obtained confirmed the feasibility of the approach proposed as well as a good reliability of the data acquired, confirming the likely employment of this system within an integrated marine monitoring tool.

Smart cities are getting essential to drive economic growth, increase social prospects and improve high-quality lifestyle for citizens. To meet the goal of smart cities, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) have a key role. The application of smart solutions will allow the cities to use ICT and big data to improve infrastructure and services (i.e. network efficiency, protection from contamination, etc.). In the water sector, the integration of smart meters and sensors coupled with cloud computing and the paradigm of “divide and conquer” introduces a novel and smart management of the water network allowing an efficient online monitoring and transforming the traditional water networks into modern Smart WAter Networks (SWAN). The Ctrl+SWAN (Cloud Technologies & ReaL time monitoring+Smart WAter Network) Action Group (AG) was created within the European Innovation Partnership on Water, in order to promote innovation in the water sector by advancing existing smart solutions. The paper presents an update of a previous work on the state of the art on the best On-line Measuring Sensors (OMS) already available on the market and innovative technologies in the Research and Development (R&D) phases.