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Il percorso si svolge in territori pianeggianti e collinari attraversando, da sud a nord, la Conca d’Oro e addentrandosi nella valle del Fiume Oreto. Sarà possibile osservare aspetti stratigrafici, tettonici e geomorfologici, rappresentativi delle aree costiere e montuose della Sicilia settentrionale, che raccontano un’evoluzione geologica di oltre duecento milioni di anni. All'interno della città di Palermo saranno inoltre illustrati aspetti che riguardano i geomateriali locali, impiegati sia nella pratica edile ordinaria come nella costruzione di beni storico-monumentali, e le opere antropiche legate allo sfruttamento del sottosuolo e delle risorse geologiche in genere, evidenziando il forte legame tra la vita degli abitanti e le caratteristiche naturali del territorio che li accoglie. La percorribilità è agevole in tutti i periodi dell’anno e risulta rallentata all'interno del tessuto urbano della città di Palermo. Le possibilità di pernottamento sono numerose e diversificate. Per le escursioni fuori città e per le visite alle sorgenti e alle cave storiche è necessario un abbigliamento tecnico idoneo.

Le anfore di produzione fenicio-punica oggetto di questo studio sono state tutte rinvenute nelle necropoli occidentale e orientale di Himera nel corso delle indagini archeologiche, condotte dalla Soprintendenza di Palermo tra il 1990 e il 2011, in una serie di intense e sistematiche campagne di scavo che hanno consentito di esplorare complessivamente oltre 13.000 tombe, un numero straordinario di sepolture, databili tra età arcaica e classica, che costituisce uno dei complessi legati allo studio della sfera funeraria greca più rilevante di tutto il mondo coloniale greco. Le indagini, soprattutto quelle realizzate nella necropoli occidentale tra il 2008 e il 2011, hanno costituito una straordinaria opportunità di ricerca e di studio; i cantieri di scavo erano, infatti, dotati di diversi laboratori tecnici, che hanno garantito ad archeologi, antropologi, restauratori e disegnatori la possibilità di avere un collegamento diretto tra lo scavo e i primi risultati scientifici delle indagini. Tale organizzazione ha, pertanto, consentito di disporre, in tempi relativamente brevi, di dati di scavo su cui condurre le prime valutazioni sulle tante e diverse tematiche connesse allo scavo nella necropoli. Oltre agli elementi più direttamente collegati alla sfera della morte - rituali, tipologie funerarie, paesaggio e organizzazione degli spazi cimiteriali - è emersa un’articolata documentazione inerente tanti altri campi di interesse: dagli aspetti sociali ed economici, a quelli della produzione artistica e artigianale della colonia di Himera, e ancora informazioni sulle tecniche architettoniche o sulla lavorazione dei prodotti agricoli. Utili indicazioni sono anche emerse per indagare i rapporti con gli indigeni che popolavano il vasto entroterra imerese di area sicana; infine, ricordiamo la documentazione archeologica su fatti storici di grande importanza per la storia della Sicilia, come furono le battaglie di Himera del 480 a. C. e del 409 a.C.4.Una chiara dimostrazione della varietà di spunti e di argomenti offerti dalle ricerche nelle necropoli imeresi sono proprio le anfore da trasporto, di cui si presentano in questo lavoro quelle di produzione punica. Lo straordinario numero di esemplari rinvenuti, provenienti da tutto il Mediterraneo, costituisce un grande patrimonio la cui conoscenza va ben oltre l’aspetto della morte e dei rituali connessi alla sepoltura. Si tratta, infatti, di vasi la cui produzione non era certo legata all’uso funerario, ma che ebbero come ultima funzione, nelle necropoli antiche, quella di contenere i resti dei bambini deceduti nei primi mesi di vita; quindi, il significato in relazione alla sfera della morte è del tutto secondario. Assume, invece, grande rilievo - attraverso la loro esatta classificazione, seriazione, datazione e indagine sui luoghi di provenienza - il contributo che esse possono offrire per la conoscenza degli scambi e delle relazioni commerciali di Himera, offrendo un apporto prezioso alla ricostruzione del quadro dei traffici commerciali nel Mediterraneo di età arcaica e classica. Lo studio di migliaia di tombe e dei reperti rinvenuti in queste esplorazioni avrà tempi lunghi e non è possibile pensare ad una pur auspicabile edizione completa degli scavi in tempi brevi; tuttavia, attraverso la pubblicazione già realizzata di diverse ricerche preliminari su problematiche specifiche, entro cui si inserisce anche questo catalogo completo delle anfore fenicio-puniche, si vuole offrire un primo contributo utile all’approfondimento e al confronto su temi di grande rilevanza negli studi sulla colonizzazione greca.

Questa monografia costituisce la sintesi dello studio effettuato dall'autrice sulle ceramiche di produzione locale e di importazione rinvenute durante le campagne di scavo realizzate negli anni 2010-2014 lungo la cinta muraria di Erice. Sono stati analizzati in modo approfondito, fornendone un catalogo dettagliato, i frammenti ceramici provenienti dagli strati di fondazione delle mura di età arcaica, studiati nell'ambito del loro contesto di scavo.

The topic of this study was the mineralogical and petrographic characterization of bedding mortars (made of different layers) and tesserae of Roman age (3rd century A.D.), taken from the mosaic of the Frigidarium of “Villa Bonanno”, brought to light by archaeological excavations conducted in the historical centre of Palermo. The collected samples have been analysed by thin-section optical microscopy (PLM), and scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDS). The study was aimed to define the “recipe” (composition of aggregate and binder, aggregate size distribution, aggregate/binder ratio), in order to assess the provenance of raw materials (supply site/area) and to acquire useful information in order to formulate "restoration mortars" that should be most comparable with the original ones, for replacements and/or integration. Rock types constituting the coloured tesserae were also characterized by thin-section optical microscopy. The mineralogical and petrographic investigations allowed establishing two different recipes used for the formulation of the studied mortars in terms of both compositional and textural features. The aggregate is composed by diverse proportions of detritic calcareous granules (both bioclasts and limestone fragments deriving from the local outcropping biocalcarenites and limestones), siliceous sand (monocrystalline quartz, chert and quartzarenite fragments), volcanic ash (pozzolana) and sometimes cocciopesto. The resulting hydraulic binder was the product of the „pozzolanic reaction" between volcanic ash and the aerial lime (specifically made by the calcination of locally available magnesian limestone or dolostone). The coloured tesserae can be all classified as compact limestones of Mesozoic or Cenozoic age, likely of local provenance.

Di seguito vengono esposti i risultati derivanti dalla caratterizzazione petrografica e chimica di 20 reperti ceramici costituiti da scodelle, bacini, tazze, coppe, brocche a decorazione geometrica dipinta datati dalla fine del VII sec. alla metà del V sec. a.C. (campioni siglati da ER-1 a ER-10) e da coppe/skiphoi decorati a vernice nera (campioni siglati da ER-11 a ER-20), datati dalla fine del VI al V sec. a.C.. Tutti i campioni analizzati provengono dal contesto di fondazione delle mura arcaiche di Erice (TP). L’approccio metodologico ha previsto la caratterizzazione degli impasti ceramici in termini tessiturali (addensamento e distribuzione dimensionale degli inclusi, natura ed omogeneità della massa di fondo) e composizionali (natura dei granuli monomineralici e dei frammenti litici che costituiscono le inclusioni con diametro maggiore di 0.04 mm) mediante osservazione di sezioni sottili al microscopio polarizzatore . Le osservazioni microscopiche condotte su campioni ceramici appartenenti ad una ben definita classe tipologica hanno l’obiettivo di verificare l’esistenza di analogie mineralogico-petrografiche tali da consentire l’istituzione di “gruppi di impasto”, riconducibili a una stessa materia prima argillosa (utilizzata tal quale o sottoposta a trattamenti preliminari) e, di conseguenza, verosimilmente attribuibili ad un medesimo centro di produzione. Le analisi chimiche dello stesso set di campioni sono state effettuate mediante le tecniche ICP-OES ed ICP-MS allo scopo di ottenerne la composizione in termini di elementi maggiori, minori ed in traccia (55 elementi in totale), seguendo la classica procedura di controllo e calibrazione con standard internazionali . L’obiettivo delle analisi chimiche consiste nel verificare la congruità dei ‘gruppi di impasto’ circoscritti mediante le osservazioni microscopiche e, nel contempo, individuare eventuali marker chimici che consentano un confronto con materie prime argillose locali e/o con manufatti ceramici appartenenti alla stessa classe tipologica di cui sia già stato attestato il centro di produzione attraverso analisi archeometriche condotte precedentemente.

The Cathedral of Monreale (not far from the city of Palermo) is one of the most famous monuments of the Arab-Norman period in Sicily recently added to the World Heritage list by UNESCO. It is well known above all for its structure and the magnificence mosaic decorations inside. In the church it is also conserved a Baptismal Font made of coloured limestone and dated back to the first decade of the 17th century. The present study deals with this valuable object with the aim of obtaining information about the nature and provenance of the coloured limestone constituting the basin. Laboratory analyses were thus carried out on representative stone samples by means of polarized light microscopy as well as C and O stable isotope mass spectrometry. The obtained results revealed the provenance of the coloured marble from the island of Chios (Aegean Sea), accordingly corroborating the suggestive hypothesis of the re-employment of a marble basin (labrum) of Roman age during the Renaissance. This paper provides a new contribution to the understanding of the historical and architectural development of the Cathedral of Monreale highlighting a new example of re-employment and reworking of precious stone in antiquity.

An exciting avenue of neuroscientific research involves quantifying the time-varying prop- erties of functional connectivity networks. As a result, many methods have been proposed to estimate the dynamic properties of such networks. However, one of the challenges associated with such methods involves the interpretation and visualization of high-dimensional, dynamic networks. In this work, we employ graph embedding algorithms to provide low-dimensional vector representations of networks, thus facilitating traditional objectives such as visualization, interpretation and classification. We focus on linear graph embedding methods based on prin- cipal component analysis and regularized linear discriminant analysis. The proposed graph embedding methods are validated through a series of simulations and applied to fMRI data from the Human Connectome Project.

The topic of this study was the mineralogical and petrographic characterization of lime-based mortars of Hellenistic-Roman age (3rd century BC), taken from a residential area located in the historical centre of Palermo, near the walls of the Punic-Roman Neapolis, recently brought to light by excavations carried out by the Soprintendenza BB.CC.AA. of Palermo at Palazzo del Gran Cancelliere (Palermo). The collected mortars have been analyzed by optical microscopy (PLM), X-ray powder diffraction analysis (XRPD) and scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDS). The study was aimed to define the “recipe” (composition of temper and binder, temper size distribution, temper/binder ratio), in order to assess the provenance of raw materials (supply site/area) and to acquire useful information in order to formulate "restoration mortars" that should be most comparable with the original ones, for replacements and/or integration. The mineralogical and petrographic investigations allowed to establish four different recipes used for the formulation of the studied floor and wall mortars in terms of both compositional and textural features. The aggregate resulted to be composed by different proportions of alluvial calcareous and siliceous sand or else by “cocciopesto”. Aerial lime based mortars (for the most part magnesium-bearing) have been used for wall coatings and decorations, while the use of pozzolanic binder was attested for floor covering. Furthermore, it is interesting to report an unusual mosaic floor manufactured with tesserae obtained from overfired limestone scraps (locally produced). Thus, ‘recipes’ having different functionalities were established. The sandy aggregate was quarried from the coastal alluvial deposits of the river Oreto, while the binder was mostly made by the calcination of locally available magnesian limestone or dolostone. It was found a satisfactory similarity with the more or less contemporary manufactures within western Sicily. It was also shown a substantial compositional and textural equivalence with the plasters used in the baroque palaces of Palermo demonstrating a remarkable continuity in the criteria of selection of raw materials, mainly dictated by the qualitative characteristics of locally available geomaterials.

Nel presente lavoro sono riportati i dati relativi alla caratterizzazione di suoli prelevati nell’area perimetrale del sito archeologico di Solunto ed utilizzati per la riproduzione di mattoni in “terra cruda” confrontabili con quelli di età ellenistico - romana in opera in diverse unità abitative dell’insediamento. L’obiettivo di questo studio è, pertanto, quello di verificare l’area di provenienza delle materie prime originariamente utilizzate per la manifattura dei mattoni soluntini e di predisporre la base per una successiva sperimentazione atta alla valutazione dell’efficacia di procedure e prodotti per il futuro consolidamento delle strutture murarie del sito archeologico. La ricerca è stata articolata in tre fasi: 1) ricognizioni sul campo per individuare le materie prime, ossia le “terre”; 2) confezionamento di mattoncini sperimentali a partire dalle “terre” campionate; 3) caratterizzazione fisico-tessiturale (analisi granulometrica, massa volumica apparente, massa volumica reale, colore mediante Munsell Soil Chart) e mineralogico-petrografica (analisi XRD e microscopia ottica in luce trasmessa polarizzata su sezioni sottili). Le prove di caratterizzazione hanno evidenziato la più che buona corrispondenza sotto il profilo mineralogico e tessiturale tra i provini realizzati con le “terre” locali ed il mattone in opera; questi risultati consentono l’attuazione di una sperimentazione concernente trattamenti consolidanti sui provini di laboratorio, preliminari ai saggi sui materiali in opera.

Nel presente contributo sono illustrati i risultati di un indagine mineralogico-petrografica finalizzata alla caratterizzazione dei materiali litoidi (tessere e malte di alletamento), impiegati nella pavimentazione musiva romana di epoca imperiale sita a Palermo in Piazza Sett’Angeli. Campioni rappresentativi di ciascuna tipologia di materiale sono stati analizzati scegliendo le tecniche analitiche più idonee in base alla loro natura: microscopia ottica su sezione sottile (PLM) e diffrattometria ai raggi X (XRD) nel caso delle tessere lapidee e delle malte; microscopia elettronica a scansione con spettrometro a dispersione di energia (SEMEDS) nel caso delle tessere vitree. L’indagine mineralogico-petrografica ha consentito di riconoscere, nell’ambito delle tessere lapidee, la presenza di litotipi sia di probabile provenienza locale (materiali litologicamente compatibili con le rocce affioranti nei rilievi montuosi che circandano la città di Palermo), sia la presenza di materiali importati. Relativamente alle malte di allettamento, le analisi hanno evidenziato la presenza di una successione stratigrafica contraddistinta da tre unità stratigrafiche: rudus, nucleus e sovranucleus. Il rudus, di aspetto dimensionale conglomeratico, è una malta dal carattere mediamente idraulico per la presenza di modeste quantità di pozzolana (scorie e granuli monomineralici di originevulcanica). Il nucleus, con funzione di corpo/livellamento, risulta costituito da un aggregato ottenuto dalla frammentazione di roccia calcarenitica legata con calce aerea. Il sovranucleus è un sottile strato di finitura, di fattura alquanto ricercata, essendo costituto da un aggregato a base di calcite spatica, minerale che si ritrova come riempimento di fessure e vuoti nelle rocce carbonatiche affioranti nei Monti di Palermo.

Brown adipocytes dissipate energy, whereas white adipocytes are an energy storage site. We explored the plasticity of different white adipose tissue depots in acquiring a brown phenotype by cold exposure. By comparing cold-induced genes in white fat to those enriched in brown compared with white fat, at thermoneutrality we defined a "brite" transcription signature. We identified the genes, pathways, and promoter regulatory motifs associated with "browning," as these represent novel targets for understanding this process. For example, neuregulin 4 was more highly expressed in brown adipose tissue and upregulated in white fat upon cold exposure, and cell studies showed that it is a neurite outgrowth-promoting adipokine, indicative of a role in increasing adipose tissue innervation in response to cold. A cell culture system that allows us to reproduce the differential properties of the discrete adipose depots was developed to study depot-specific differences at an in vitro level. The key transcriptional events underpinning white adipose tissue to brown transition are important, as they represent an attractive proposition to overcome the detrimental effects associated with metabolic disorders, including obesity and type 2 diabetes.

This paper deals with the proposal of an original experimental methodological approach specifically designed for appraising any compositional alteration and/or contamination of archaeological ceramics after the protracted contact with seawater. A series of ceramic test-pieces (briquettes and cylinders) were purposely manufactured by mixing selected calcareous or non-calcareous clays with different varieties of sieved sand temper. The aim was to reasonably simulate the ceramic pastes most frequently found in the shipwrecks recovered in the coastal areas of western Mediterranean. The used raw materials were previously characterized in terms of mineralogical and chemical composition (XRPD, XRF). The obtained test-pieces were fired under oxidizing conditions at predetermined temperatures (800 and 950 degrees C) in a traditional ceramic kiln and their chemical composition was analyzed by XRF spectrometry. Briquettes were firstly fixed into customized Ertacetal (R) holders and then placed in open sea-bed environment under monitored oxidizing or reducing conditions by the Italian CNR-IAMC dockside at Granitola, north-western Sicily. At the same time, two customized glass containers for working in a confined system under continuous seawater flow were designed and realized. They were filled with bottom sediments rather different in size in order to produce either reducing or oxidizing microenvironments below the water-sediment interface. Cylinder shaped test-pieces were placed in the sediment of both the glass containers. Weekly monitoring of temperature, salinity, conductivity, pH, Eh, dissolved oxygen was carried out in both the above-described experimental settings. Comparative (before/after) XRF analyses, after 3 months of exposure to seawater, were performed on the experimental ceramic briquettes and cylinders. The obtained results provided preliminary evidences that the proposed experimental strategy is efficiently working and a number of not negligible changes concerning major and trace elements were pointed out just after such a restricted time of exposure to seawater

Salt crystallization is widely recognized as a cause of deterioration of porous building materials. In particular, the crystallization pressure of salt crystals growing in confined pores is found to be the main cause for damage. The aim of this study is to better understand the degradation of porous rocks induced by salt crystallisation and correlate such processes with the intrinsic characteristics of materials. With this intend, an experimental salt weathering simulation has been carried out on two limestones widely used in the Baroque architecture of eastern Sicily. A systematic approach including petrographic, porosimetric and colorimetric analyses, was used to evaluate the correlation among salt crystallisation, microstructural and chromatic variations of limestone. Results showed a quite different resistance of the two limestones to salt damage, and this was found to be strongly dependent on their pore structure and textural characteristics.

Excavations at the proto-urban indigenous settlement of Monte Polizzo (western Sicily) have not yielded so far any evidence of in-situ ceramic production (i.e. kiln structures). However several archaeological concerns put forward to consider it as a likely production centre of pottery during the Archaic age. In this paper a first attempt to check the compositional correspondence between ceramic fabrics and local clay sources has been made. A comprehensive archaeometric investigation of native pottery, mainly composed of matte-painted table ware dated from the 7th to the 4th century BC, recovered from the Acropolis of Monte Polizzo has allowed the identification of five distinct ‘Paste Compositional Reference Units’ (PCRUs). The five PCRUs were independently identified and confirmed through textural and mineralogical characteristics (petrographic observations) and chemical characterization (XRF analysis). A parallel investigation of clayey raw material of Monte Polizzo’s natural resources revealed two geologic formations the Terravecchia and Marnoso-Arenacea del Belice (MAB). Experimental ceramic briquettes were created and mineralogically and petrographically characterized. A comparison between the native and experimental ceramics revealed that the native ceramists preferred clays from the Terravecchia Formation. The mineralogical, textural and chemical composition of the raw clays of the Terravecchia Formation resulted to be well correlated with the 92% of the native ceramic artefacts recovered from Monte Polizzo. The remaining 8% are interpreted to be imported from the Sicani Mounts area.

Solunto is one of the most important Phoenician-Punic colonies of north-western Sicily. Archaeometric researches carried out in the last years ascertained a local production of transport amphorae during Archaic and Classic age (7th-5th century B.C.) through mineralogical, petrographical and chemical analysis of ceramic samples, kiln refuses and local raw materials (clays and alluvial sands). In connection with these earliest works, the present paper was focused on some specific forms of fine-tempered table ware of Archaic age and/or Classic-Hellenistic age. This pottery has been recurrently brought to light in Solunto and it is furthermore suspected to be, at least to some extent, a local reproduction. Thus a representative number of samples corresponding in style and morphology to Greek-colonial productions were subjected to thin-section and chemical analysis. Simultaneously, the same analytical routine was applied to an Hellenistic black-gloss ware form (Campana A), the plate classified as Lamboglia 36, considering a number of samples coming from Solunto as well as from others close centers. In both the cases the comparative elaboration of petrographic and chemical data concerning the ceramic samples and local raw clays let us to distinguish between the products made in the Soluntoʼs kilns and the imports from Greece or the Greek colony of Himera or from the Gulf of Naples area (for the black-gloss ware samples). Therefore, a durability of the manufacture crosswise more than four centuries was demonstrated for the ceramic kilns which were working at Solunto, which were able to reproduce several fine ware forms testifying an high technological level.

Receptor-interacting protein 140 (RIP140) is a corepressor of nuclear receptors that is highly expressed in adipose tissues. We investigated the role of RIP140 in conditionally immortal preadipocyte cell lines prepared from white or brown fat depots. In white adipocytes, a large set of brown fat-associated genes was up-regulated in the absence of RIP140. In contrast, a relatively minor role can be ascribed to RIP140 in the control of basal gene expression in differentiated brown adipocytes because significant changes were observed only in Ptgds and Fabp3. The minor role of RIP140 in brown adipocytes correlates with the similar histology and uncoupling protein 1 and CIDEA staining in knockout compared with wild-type brown adipose tissue (BAT). In contrast, RIP140 knockout sc white adipose tissue (WAT) shows increased numbers of multilocular adipocytes with elevated staining for uncoupling protein 1 and CIDEA. Furthermore in a white adipocyte cell line, the markers of BRITE adipocytes, Tbx1, CD137, Tmem26, Cited1, and Epsti1 were repressed in the presence of RIP140 as was Prdm16. Microarray analysis of wild-type and RIP140-knockout white fat revealed elevated expression of genes associated with cold-induced expression or high expression in BAT. A set of genes associated with a futile cycle of triacylglycerol breakdown and resynthesis and functional assays revealed that glycerol kinase and glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase activity as well as [(3)H]glycerol incorporation were elevated in the absence of RIP140. Thus, RIP140 blocks the BRITE program in WAT, preventing the expression of brown fat genes and inhibiting a triacylglycerol futile cycle, with important implications for energy homeostasis.

Ferulic acid (FA), a phenolic compound with a significant antioxidant activity in Alzheimer's disease, was entrapped into several solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN and NLC) by using the microemulsion technique. Stable SLN and NLC formulations having mean size ranging between 94-140 nm and high zeta potential were obtained. The SLN sample obtained by using as lipid matrix Compritol 888 ATO was chosen for further characterization because, among these particles, showed high Loading Capacity (LC%) and the best characteristics in terms of size, PDI, and drug release profile. Empty SLN showed no cytotoxicity on human neuroblastoma cells (LAN 5) at tested concentrations and the ability to penetrate into these cells. Moreover, cells treated with FA-loaded SLN showed a higher reduced ROS production than cells treated with free FA. These findings demonstrate that FA-loaded SLN possess a higher protective activity than free FA against oxidative stress induced in neurons and suggest that SLN are excellent carriers to transport FA into the cells.