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Laboratory experiments were performed in the wave flume of the Laboratorio di Idraulica e Costruzioni Marittime of the Università Politecnica delle Marche (Ancona, Italy) to study the hydrodynamic performance of coastal protection structures made of a new type of geotextile sand containers (GSCs). Such structures are used as softer and flexible alternatives to traditional hard coastal defenses made of concrete or rubble mound material. The GSC structures can also be used as temporary coastal protections during the winter period. The physical model reproduced two main configurations: in the former one, the GSCs were used as coastal revetments with three different slopes. In the latter one, the GSCs were applied to make detached submerged breakwaters with different submergences and berm widths. The geometric scale of the models was 1:10, and the weight of each GSC in the prototype was 5 t. The geotextile material of the containers and the wave characteristics were reproduced by using the Reynolds and the Froude similarity criteria, respectively. Reflection coefficients and hydraulic stability behaviors for the revetments, as well as transmission coefficients and piling-up amount for breakwaters, were obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The working features of innovative coastal defense structures that can dissipate the energy of incoming waves by the action of large-scale bottom unevennesses (rigid blades covering the lower half of the water depth) were investigated by means of a laboratory experimental campaign. The goal of the study was to characterize the ability of the structures to efficiently reduce the wave height with a minimal change in the mean water superelevations. Similar wave height reductions were achieved for both vertical and inclined blades; their efficiency was slightly superior to that of traditional submerged rubble-mound breakwaters of the same cross-shore extension. For the incident waves examined, very low mean water elevations were observed inshore of the structures, with the inclined blades producing the smallest values. These results suggest that the structures analyzed here could represent an alternative to submerged rubble-mound breakwaters from a hydrodynamic point of view to protect coastlines prone to erosion with minimal risk of dangerous rip currents. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)WW.1943-5460.0000028 CE Database subject headings: Coastal structures; Dissipating submerged structures. Author keywords: Coastal structures; Submerging; Hydraulic roughness; Wave forces.

A comparative assessment of available formulae for the water setup inshore of submerged breakwaters is made on the basis of a wide and varied dataset derived from basin and flume laboratory experiments. Formulae derived from a simplified view which does not account for the horizontal flow circulation provide a large overestimate (up to one order of magnitude) of the smaller setup values. A much better overall approximation of the measured data is obtained through formulae that consider the setup as part of a complete flow description, be it partially or fully accounting for the horizontal flow motion. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-950X(2009)135:2(38) CE Database subject headings: Breakwaters; Wave measurement; Beach erosion; Submerging.

The climate change process is leading to an increase in the sea level and the storm intensity. The associated shoreline recession can damage coastal facilities and also beaches protected by submerged/emerged breakwaters whose defense action can become ineffective. The application of cross-shore numerical models does not allow the performance of long-term analyses. In this paper, a semi-analytical model for the evaluation of shoreline recession due to waves and sea-level rise for free and protected beaches is proposed. The model is an extension of the Dean's approach in which some limitations on the beach profile are overcome and the effects of breakwaters on the wave height (wave transmission) and on the water level (piling-up) are considered. The model takes into account a wide range of parameters for wave, sea level, beach profile, and breakwater characteristics. Among the breakwater parameters, the freeboard and the berm width are found to mainly affect the shoreline recession. For submerged breakwaters, an optimal value of the freeboard can be computed depending on the sea level and the offshore wave characteristics. The results of the model are then used to find prediction relations of the shoreline recession, with r2 > 0.99, for both free and protected beaches, depending on the main hydrodynamic/geometrical characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, attention has been paid to beach protection by means of soft and hard defenses. Along the Italian coast of the Adriatic Sea, sandy beaches are the most common landscape feature and around 70% of the Marche region's coast (central Adriatic) is protected by defense structures. The longest free-from-obstacle nearshore area in the region includes the beach of Senigallia, frequently monitored in the last decades and characterized by a multiple bar system, which represents a natural beach defense. The bathymetries surveyed in 2006, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 show long-term stability, confirmed by a good adaptation of an analyzed stretch of the beach to the Dean-type equilibrium profile, though a strong short- to medium-term variability of the wave climate has been observed during the monitored periods. The medium-term dynamics of the beach, which deal with the evolution of submerged bars and are of the order of years or seasons, have been related to the wave climate collected, during the analyzed temporal windows, by a wave buoy located about 40 km off Senigallia. An overall interpretation of the hydrodynamics, sediment characteristics and seabed morphology suggests that the wave climate is fundamental for the morphodynamic changes of the beach in the medium term. These medium-term time ranges during which waves mainly come from NNE/ESE are characterized by a larger/smaller steepness and by a larger/smaller relative wave height, and seem to induce seaward/shoreward bar migration as well as bar smoothing/steepening. Moving southeastward, the bar dimension increases, while the equilibrium profile shape suggests the adaptation to a decreasing sediment size in the submerged beach. This is probably due to the presence of both the harbor jetty and river mouth north of the investigated area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a simple physical model for the numerical simulation of the behavior of buckling-type marine fenders. The proposed model is characterized by four parameters and is derived starting from similarities between the unstable behavior of marine fenders and shallow arches. In this model, the large displacements solution expressing the relationship between the model displacements and reaction force is determined in a nondimensional form, and the model parameters are calibrated to minimize residuals between real and predicted normalized reaction force-deflection curves. By considering an in-series arrangement of two elementary physical models, the approach can be also used to simulate the behavior of parallel-motion fenders. The proposed model can be directly implemented in commercial computer programs for structural analysis to study interactions arising between buckling-type marine fenders and flexible berthing structures. In this paper, the model effectiveness in capturing the behavior of fenders and parallel motions systems is evaluated through comparisons of results, both in terms of reaction force and absorbed energy, with data of real devices, obtained from three different manufacturers. Results demonstrate the model efficiency and suitability for reproducing the behavior of a wide range of devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sorghum crop demonstrated high yield potential under drought and wet environments with a better energy balance than several cultivated plants. Sorghum biomass can contribute to solving the pressing issue of reducing reliance on fossil fuel. Africa and Asia are sorghum centers of diversity, and landraces therefrom can be of great breeding and production interests in the Mediterranean region. Several works evaluated biomass sorghums, but results on comparative performance between lines, landraces and hybrids are lacking. The objective of this work was to assess the performance of these genotypic groups for traits relevant for biofuel conversions, by carrying out a meta-analysis of data from twenty-four trials conducted in different Mediterranean locations in Italy over seven years. Obtained results showed sorghum hybrids as the best biofuel feedstock option as they outperformed landraces and lines for most traits including biomass yield. Landraces represented an attractive alternative to hybrids and lines as they outyielded lines and were second only to hybrids in terms of biomass production and cellulosic content. Biomass yield advantage was explained by increased plant tallness and cellulosic content in hybrids, and cellulosic content in landraces, and to a lesser extent, by plant maturity in hybrids and landraces. Based on biomass quality and quantity, hybrids and landraces can supply thermal, thermochemical and biochemical biofuel conversion industries. Sorghum lines could be better used in first generation biofuel and energy bioconversion technologies requiring lower lignin containing feedstocks. Landraces and lines could be targeted to areas where hybrid seed production industry is not developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of the Estuarine Cohesive Sediments (EsCoSed) project, a field experiment was performed in a highly engineered environment, acting as a natural laboratory, to study the physico-chemical properties of estuarine sediments and the associated hydro-morphodynamics during different seasons. The present contribution focuses on the results obtained from the summertime monitoring of the most downstream part of the Misa River (Senigallia, Italy). The measured hydrodynamics suggested a strong interaction between river current, wave forcing and tidal motion; flow velocities, affected by wind waves traveling upstream, changed significantly along the water column in both direction and magnitude. Surficial salinities in the estuary were low in the upper reaches of the estuary and exceeded 10 psu before the river mouth. Montmorillonite dominated the clay mineral assemblage, suggesting that large, low density flocs with high settling velocities (>1 mm s-1) may dominate the suspended aggregate materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comparative analysis is performed on the wave energy dissipation efficiency on various coastal protection devices. In-house experimental data on the performance of two innovative coastal defence methods and of traditional submerged breakwaters have been used. The analysis provides a quantitative comparison of the efficiency of wave dissipators based on either wave-breaking turbulence, near-bed turbulence, or inside-seabed turbulence decay. The comparison is made on the basis of wave height decay patterns described as a function of suitable dimensionless parameters. The dimensionless volume of maximum turbulence decay is found to be a useful parameter for the analysis. Efficiencies in reducing the intensity of the incident waves are measured by the wave transmission coefficient, which is found to range between 0.4 and 1.0. Submerged breakwaters were found to be the most efficient wave dissipators, especially for large waves, while comparable efficiencies are provided by the three mechanisms under analysis if the flow is forced by moderate waves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Activity of peroxidase, superoxide dismutase and catalase were examined in leaves, stems and roots of olivacea (oli) and monstrosa (mon) mutants of Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. The extent of the difference between the pattern of oxidative enzyme activities of the wild type (Wt) and the mutants was determined. The high peroxidase activity during the developmental stages of the leaves and stems of oli and mon phenotypes is associated with high levels of 4 anodic peroxidases in leaves and of two isozymes in the stem. Leaves of oli exhibit higher activity of the cathodic peroxidase C2, while both mutations have a marked increase of peroxidase C1 in stems. A positive relation between high peroxidase activity and oxidative stress damage was found: in chilling experiments at 5°C, peroxidase level in mutants and wt leaves was negatively correlated with electrolyte leakage. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity rises in oli stems around flowering time due to the high activity of the chloroplast forms SOD-1 and SOD-2. Catalases (CAT) were detectable only in early stages of plant development; CAT-2 was nearly absent in wild type tissues but well represented in mon and oli. The oli and mon mutations may affect critical steps of a regulatory pathway controlling various classes of oxidative enzymes in tomato. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]