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This study focuses on analyzing and monitoring urban subsidence, particularly in the city of Palermo, Italy. Land subsidence, induced by natural and human factors, poses threats to infrastructure and urban safety. Remote sensing (RS), specifically synthetic-aperture radar interferometry (In-SAR), is employed due to its ability to detect ground displacements over large areas with great precision. The persistent scatterer InSAR (PS-InSAR) technique is utilized to identify stable targets and track millimeter-level surface deformations. This research spans from October 2014 to October 2021, using Sentinel-1 satellite data to capture ground deformation from various angles. The findings are integrated into an accessible web app (ArcGIS) for local authorities that could be used aiding in urban planning and enhancing safety measures. This study's results offer updated deformation maps, serving as an operational tool to support decision-making and community resilience, emphasizing risk awareness and responsible practices. This study highlights that the exponential expansion of urban areas, which does not take into account historical information, can gravely jeopardize both the integrity of urban infrastructure and the well-being of its inhabitants. In this context, remote sensing technologies emerge as an invaluable ally, used in monitoring and safeguarding the urban landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to its strategic position in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily was a place of multiple cultural contaminations and commercial exchanges throughout the early modern era. Trade, piracy, and even slavery implemented continuous contacts between populations from opposing shores, regardless of their different religious beliefs. Yet, the island was also intended as a Christian bulwark against the Islamic world and its institutions fostered anti-Muslim prejudices. To date, this discrepancy has been little investigated, but the responsibilities of art in fueling discriminatory attitudes have been explored even less. Drawing on Francisco Bethencourt's idea that racism is motivated by political projects, this paper illustrates the complicity of art in reinforcing prejudices for political interests. To do so, it explores the 1725 frescoes by the Flemish painter Guglielmo Borremans (1670–1744) in the church of the Forty Martyrs and Saint Ranieri of the Pisan Nation, in Palermo. In the face of persistent multiculturalism in the daily life of the population, these frescoes affirmed the supremacy of Pisa as a victorious guardian of Christianity in the Mediterranean. In this way, they celebrated the urban nobility of Pisan descent, while disguising the problematic identity of its enemy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humulus lupulus is a dioecious twining herb, with an outstanding vertical development capacity. Hop plants are usually grown on trellises up to 4.5 to 6.0 m high, whose management requires intense use of water, fertilizers, pesticides, and labor. In semiarid Mediterranean areas, where native resources are often scarce, the adoption of low-trellis farming systems could be a sustainable option for hop cultivation. With the aim of evaluating hop suitability to low-trellis cultivation in a Mediter)ranean environment, in 2018 and 2019 three traditional hop genotypes (‘Cascade’, ‘Chinook’, and ‘Nugget’) were grown, and their development rate was evaluated and put in relation with the plants’ cone, root, and biomass yield. Moreover, organic (fragmented pine bark) and synthetic [black polyethylene (PE) plastic film] mulches were applied on the same cultivars, and both epigeal and hypogeal development were evaluated. The results showed that the faster the growth in the first two phases of plant elongation (up to 50% of the height of the upper wire), the lower the yield in both cones and total epigeal biomass. A fast growth rate was instead associated with a higher hypogeal biomass production. Mulching was able to significantly affect the hypogeal biomass, specifically for cv. Cascade, where the use of synthetic mulching allowed significant root biomass increases. The analysis of the results obtained showed that hop’s suitability to a low-trellis farming system is highly variable among varieties in the semiarid Mediterranean environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the issues of governance and participation of World Heritage sites. It inquiries how decision-making structures to locally managed World Heritage sites may encompass public participation. Through an in-depth qualitative approach, the paper analyses the World Heritage Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalù and Monreale serial site (Italy). By examining the participatory dynamics that occurred during the creation and development of the selected World Heritage serial site, this paper reveals three coexisting forms of participation in WHsite decisions: inter-institutional agreement, social aggregation, and multi-actor collaboration. The main findings suggest that although formal decision-making arenas may be participative weakly, the unpacking of participatory practices in urban spaces uncovers a vibrant scene, as it emerges from the Cassaro Alto and Danisinni districts in the city of Palermo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay will use the theoretical lens of the production of space, provided by David Harvey, to analyse the Sack of Palermo, or the massive destruction of the Conca d'Oro, the fertile land surrounding Palermo, and its substitution with high rise buildings which occurred between 1950 and the 1980s, resulting in the destruction of a vast area of social space which had existed for centuries. Harvey argues that capitalism consists of a constant re-modeling of places in order to facilitate its practices of domination and profit. Organised crime has been the vehicle in this case: Indeed, the Mafia has produced a new urban space, not only by destroying the former agricultural and suburban context of Palermo, but also by their demolition of some important monuments in the cities, such as the liberty villas of early XX century. This process took place in two stages. The first one was the displacement, that is the eviction of the population of the city- relocatd into lower class districts where unemployment and social disruption provided a fertile ground to the Mafioso hegemony. The second stage was anonymization: The emptying of the city, the engulfing of the old borgate (hamlets) with blocks of flats, destroyed the social capital of family, professional and cultural network which was crucial for the city's local identity. The new Palermo suffered from the lack of a collective sense of belonging which impeded the development of a sense of civility and citizenship; and thus made way for fragmented, particular interests, making it easier to reinforce the domination of the mafia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This story is about a government, which considered the management of madness not a medical issue but a matter of law and order. and a 64 years old official who became the director of a madhouse having no medical nor managing expertise in mental disease, but just humanity and dedication. But most of all it's the story Of their attempt to project an image of themselves and of what they had done. that turned out in something completely different: a literary myth which went sofar to reach the pen of Aterandre Dumas and Edgar Allan Poe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results of a geomorphological study carried out in the urban area of Palermo are summarized in a thematic map. Field survey, analysis of aerial photographs and topographic maps, consultation of historical documents and maps, stratigraphic and topographic reconstruction from numerous wells and subsoil data, and bibliographic search were performed, in order to display the geomorphological changes produced by man over time in a densely populated area and to define the Anthropocene of the study area. Palermo town rises along large marine terrace surfaces cut by small river valleys and bordered by wide degraded and abandoned coastal cliffs. Over the last 2700 years, this area was affected by remarkable man-made changes to topographic surface and underground, exposing large areas of the city to hydraulic, sinkhole, and landslide risks, and increasing the levels of seismic susceptibility. In light of these results, the produced map is useful for urban planning studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work by Domenico Gagini was the first Renaissance-style funerary monument realized in Palermo in the fifteenth century. It was commissioned to the artist by Pietro Speciale in 1463for his son Nicolò Antonio, for the family chapel in the church of San Francesco d'Assisi. This paper offers a novel, unprecedented hypothetical reconstruction of the original structure of the monument, based on a comparative analysis of its description in the contract with its remaining parts. It also proposes an analysis of the cultural sources for the busts of Pietro Speciale and his son, exquisite Renaissance marble portraits realized to be included in the funerary monument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the results of a piece of research into extortion in the city of Palermo between 2004 and 2015. Highlighting the importance of the territorial context among the factors that explain the mafia phenomenon, the study draws on two different georeferencing databases: the first relating to the distribution of extortion across the Sicilian capital's various districts, and the second relating to the distribution of Palermo businesses that had joined the Addiopizzo anti-extortion movement. Although the empirical material is problematic, marked territorial variations emerge from a comparative analysis of the two databases, prompting a number of potential interpretations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of measurements of particulate samples collected on paper filters in Palermo (Italy) during 1995–2005 has been performed to detect 210 Pb air activity concentration and, along with previous similar data on 7 Be, to evaluate their activity ratio. Average values for the daily activity concentrations of 7 Be and 210 Pb are found to be 4.7 and 0.6 mBq m − 3 , respectively, 9.8 being the average activity ratio. Data confirm a seasonal behavior for both radionuclides. A correlation between 7 Be and 210 Pb air activity concentrations seems to exist, despite their different origins. The time behaviors of both 7 Be and 210 Pb air concentrations and 7 Be/ 210 Pb activity ratio have been compared with some meteorological parameter time series. The analysis of the data shows a weak correlation with rainfall, while no correlation can be established with other parameters. Monthly and weekly average values have been reconstructed taking into account missing data, in order to carry out homogeneous comparisons with available data from other geographical areas. Data series correlations and the frequency analysis show the importance of atmospheric transport processes and the influence of meteorological and climatic parameters (in particular rainfall) in determining the concentrations in air of both radionuclides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject of this article is the mantle of the kings of Sicily, now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Made in Palermo in the 1130s, it is often known as the mantle of Roger II. Following his coronation in 1130, King Roger II saw the need to ensure the succession of his sons. As part of his strategy to consolidate dynastic succession, Roger invested his sons with important titles in the mainland regions of the kingdom. This article has two parts: the first discusses the materials used to make the mantle, the journeys they took to reach Sicily and the diplomatic and commercial relationships necessary to acquire them. The second part argues that the mantle may have been made for the investiture ceremonies of the king's sons and examines how the materials and their exoticism shaped the ceremonial meaning of the garment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Northern oceans are in a state of rapid transition. Still, our knowledge of the likely effects of climate change and ocean acidification on key species in the food web, functionally important habitats and the structure of Arctic and sub-Arctic ecosystems is limited and based mainly on short-term laboratory studies on single species. This review discusses how tropical and temperate natural analogues of carbonate chemistry drivers, such as CO2 vents, have been used to further our knowledge of the sensitivity of biological systems to predicted climate change, and thus assess the capacity of different species to show long-term acclimation and adaptation to elevated levels of p CO2. Natural analogues have also provided the means to scale-up from single-species responses to community and ecosystem level responses. However, to date the application of such approaches is limited in high latitude systems. A range of Arctic and sub-Arctic sites, including CO2 vents, methane cold seeps, estuaries, up-welling areas, and polar fronts, that encompass gradients of pH, carbonate saturation state, and alkalinity, are suggested for future high latitude, in-situ ocean acidification research. It is recommended that combinations of monitoring of the chemical oceanography, observational, and experimental (in situ and laboratory) studies of organisms around these natural analogues be used to attain better predictions of the impacts of ocean acidification and climate change on high latitude species and ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the results of some empirical research on extortion in Palermo. The project is based on the administration of a structured questionnaire with traders in various districts within Palermo and villages in the provincial interior, in two phases, the first in 2007 and second in 2012. The objective was to explore traders’ opinions on the various aspects of the phenomenon of extortion: its characteristics, causes, possible solutions, and the responsibilities of every actor in the battle against this illegal enterprise. In the period in which the research was undertaken, there was a wave of strong anti-mafia and anti-racketeering activism, particularly stimulated by the emergence in 2004 of the Comitato Addiopizzo and culminating in the establishment of the first ‘ antiracket ’ association in Palermo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo contain over 1800 bodies dating from the 16th-20th centuries. Human remains and other materials within the catacombs are currently infested by a variety of insect pest species. To evaluate the community of organisms associated with these materials, the activity and abundance of insect pests were investigated. Sticky blunder traps and pheromone traps for webbing clothes moths were employed. An array of arthropods was collected in this way, including several orders of insects. The most important pest species recovered were two types of wood-boring beetles (Order Coleoptera), Anobium punctatum De Geer, 1774 and Hexarthrum exiguum (Boheman, 1838) belonging to two different taxonomic families. Both species require high wood moisture to develop, demonstrating that the environmental conditions within the catacombs were optimal for the development of these beetles. Additionally, two types of moths (Order Lepidoptera), the webbing clothes moth, Tineola bisselliella (Hummel, 1823), and the case-bearing clothes moth, Tinea pellionella (Linnaeus, 1758), were recovered. Both moths are important pests of textiles. The detection of oriental cockroaches (Order Blattodea), Blatta orientalis Linnaeus, 1758, indicated that the cleaning and sealing of the catacombs needs to be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Cantieri Culturali in the neighbourhood of Zisa (Palermo) represent one of those places where movements of urban commoning and practices of cultural activism have produced common claims through the conversion of a place destined to privatization into a powerful laboratory of social inclusion and cultural promotion. After reviewing the existing debate about commoning experiences in the cultural sector, the paper aims at inverting both the sight and the method: instead of reading the experience of the Cantieri Culturali through the existing debate, the debate itself will be critically questioned on the basis of what happened at the Cantieri between January and October 2012. This way the Cantieri become the place and the opportunity for what Spivak defined as "affirmative sabotage" (2013), i.e. the questioning of discourses produced around commoning practices in recent years, especially in the domain of critical and radical geography. In fact the paper stresses how most contributions on the topic have several bans, removals and camouflages: while promoting the commons as spaces of creative autonomy (Vasudevan, 2015) and pure resistance (De Angelis, 2003), they reduce and/or erase their critical impulse, thus preventing their transformative capacity and political sense. The radical separation of the common from the market and the state, the problematic lexical and theoretical synergy between common and community, the progressive processes of un-commoning that sometimes characterize these spaces represent some of the issues discussed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is about how lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans (LGBT) Catholics imagine God and how images of God change in parallel with their self-image. The study is based on qualitative research with LGBT Catholics, most of whom are members of Drachma LGBTI in Malta or Ali d’Aquila in Palermo, Sicily. LGBT Catholics’ image of God changes as they struggle to reconcile their religious and sexual identities and as they go through a process of “conversion” from deviants and sinners to loved children of God. One study participant compares his faith in God to peeling an onion: “With every layer one peels off, one destroys false images of God.” Most study participants have moved away from the image of God as a bearded old man and father of creation and moved more toward a conception of God as love once identity conflicts are resolved. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Palermo in the 10th and the first half of the 11th century was one of the big Mediterranean cities, fully integrated in the dār al-islām and in the area of Fatimid prosperity. This article deals with the role of Palermo in the central Mediterranean, crossing the information coming from the written sources and from the recent archaeological finds. The written sources show that, with the Fatimids, Palermo's harbour became a built harbour, characterized by imposing defences and fortified structures, which not only had a functional character but were also a representation of power. Furthermore, the written sources reflect the commercial centrality of Palermo, while the study of ceramics allows us to elaborate more and more detailed panoramas. This study attempts to give a picture of the productions identified for the Kalbid age (mid 10th-mid 11th century) and to use them as indicators of the Mediterranean traffics that intersected Palermo's harbour. The data related both to importations and to the distribution of Palermo amphorae is beginning to trace out a broader and broader picture of the network of traffics, with routes that already connected Palermo with Ifrīqiya, the Tyrrhenian and the Adriatic in the first half of the 10th century. The study of glazed ceramics reinforces the amphorae-based evidence and establishes the circulation of Palermitan productions in the Tyrrhenian area. It also begins to document, though still weakly, the complexity of the networks which, after the transfer of the Fatimid capital to Cairo, came to characterize the areas gravitating in the caliphate's orbit, as well as the integration of the Palermitan market in a vast commercial area and its penetration by fashions coming from the new centre of power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work focuses on a passive cooling architecture particularly popular from the Renaissance in Palermo area, as building sumptuous suburban villas became a real hobby for the Sicilian aristocracy. A Sirocco room is an artificial subterranean construction, built close to a water spring in order to reproduce the pleasant conditions of freshness that could be experienced in a natural cavern. In these places, nobles used to spend their time with friends to escape from the hot summer. The room of Villa Naselli-Ambleri is nowadays the best preserved in Palermo thanks to its owners’ conservation care and it is unique for its cooling operating principle. The above-mentioned considerations make this structure worth of deeper analysis regarding its architectural configuration along with some climatic studies. Following a well-established procedure intended for an intimate knowledge of historical architecture, the construction has been investigated from various points of view. A preliminary analysis of ancient documents (manuscripts, notary deeds, pictures) was performed to outline the historical evolution, the materials and constructive techniques used and the possible modifications it had undergone. Then, an architectural survey was performed in order to evaluate the geometrical/dimensional features. The collected data were compared with the historical quotes previously acquired. Furthermore, some thermo-hygrometric measurements were performed with the purpose of studying the unique cooling operating principle that is caused by the room peculiar architectural configuration and by the interaction water-air-limestone, recalling the antique Persian systems of passive cooling. Such a scheme was partially modified during the beginning of last century reducing de facto the cooling effect; a potential restoration project, as hoped by the owners, the Counts Naselli Dukes of Gela of the Princes of Aragona, will deal – as a central theme – with the reconfiguration and re-functionalization of the structure. The knowledge of such a construction and operating principles is also particularly important to re-discover the forgotten “places of delight” that are a fundamental element in Palermo history and culture, a central part of its population identity. Furthermore, preservation and reuse of surviving rooms represent a useful way to understand a simple passive cooling system whose principles could be reproduced in a contemporary way in modern buildings intended for a valid and functional energetic control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the history of the Cabinet of Pathological Anatomy at the University of Palermo, Italy. Topics discussed include collections of pathology present at many Italian and European universities that are an asset and have now become teaching materials; Professor Giovanni Gorgone at the medical faculty of Palermo, who was an anatomy teacher and skilled surgeon; and the collection of nearly 1600 specimens of pathological anatomy since 1859 at the University of Palermo.

This article examines the Sicilian mafia and the physical manifestation of the legal responses to criminal activity in Palermo, Sicily between 1982 and 2012, a period marked by increasing criminal violence against the state. We look at the commemoration of key public figures assassinated by the mafia as a way to understand episodes of illegal activity as well as the ways that different people and groups respond to these acts of terrorism. We also examine the archaeological evidence for the resultant new legislation and judicial process, from the courtrooms to evidence in the city streets. We suggest that the wide range of material culture from Palermo affords the opportunity to examine the landscape of the mafia, the temporality of legislation, discourse between acts of criminality and the legal and judicial responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Palermo suburbs have grown and developed at the expense of becoming isolated from other parts of the city. Ancient boroughs have been eradicated, alongside their urban identities. The challenges of a cosmopolitan and global world are felt even in middle-sized, fringe cities like Palermo, as its suburbs are forced to become tiles of an urban mosaic that is created by urban development. It is the duty of urban scholars to clarify and strengthen the relationships between these urban parts, and in the process restore the neglected notion of neighborhood. By overcoming the distinction between cities and urban sprawl, the controversial dispute may be resolved by urban scholars. Through historical and social analyses, this article outlines two possible transformations the boroughs can take: either as outskirts or as neighborhoods. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Mussolini had declared that Fascism, through the anti-mafia campaign entrusted to Cesare Mori, prefect of Palermo, in the second half of the 1920s, had conclusively liberated Sicily from the mafia. However, from the early 1930s a new deterioration of public order on the island was evident, and the regime was forced to launch a second, and much less publicised, repression of this phenomenon. In the course of its careful investigations the body given responsibility for pursuing this repression, theIspettorato Generale di Pubblica Sicurezza per la Sicilia, compiled a series of reports, including theProcesso verbale di denunziarelating to the area around Palermo. With a level of detail never seen before, these reports described the structure, organisation and dynamics of mafia groups. This was possible because police officers had available members of the mafia groups themselves – genuinepentiti– who had decided to make disclosures to the authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Sedimentary biogeochemical data from the Gulf of Palermo, which borders one of the major urban and industrial areas of the central Mediterranean, provide a decennial–centennial-scale record of the effects of human activity on this coastal environment. In this study we report trace elements (TE), Corg/Ntot ratios, δ13Corg, and δ15Ntot from dated (210Pb) sediments collected in two coastal stations variably influenced by urban/fluvial loadings and illegal dumping and we compare them with published data for offshore sediments, in order to investigate at a large spatial scale the influence of on-land activities on sedimentary marine system. TE were generally low except for Hg and Pb, which exhibited moderate enrichments. Low TE enrichment factors with respect to Corg indicate that trace elements were mainly trapped by sedimentary organic matter. Corg/Ntot, δ13Corg, and δ15Ntot depth profiles showed that sediments received organic matter derived from marine sources mixed with organic matter from the erosion of terrestrial material as well as unregulated sewage discharges. Superimposed on these patterns, repeated shifts in δ13Corg towards values higher than those typical of offshore Palermo sediments were concomitant with higher Corg/Ntot. These shifts observed in the core portions covering the last 40 years reflect enhanced eutrophication as result of elevated nutrient input into marine waters. The results of this study have traced the origin and extent of the organic enrichment and emphasized the importance of utilizing a complete range of chemical and isotopic analyses from sedimentary records to reconstruct the environmental history of coastal ecosystems impacted by urbanization processes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A fast accumulation of platinum in the environmental and biological matrices was observed in the last years and concern arose about potential environmental and health risks. The toxicity of platinum species has been investigated in various studies, some of their, especially the chlorinated ones, are very toxic and allergenic. Information of the acute toxicity of some Pt-chlorinated salts and evidence of DNA damage due to Pt exposure have been observed both in vitro and in vivo. Taking into account what is written above, the development of reliable analytic methods to measure very low Pt concentrations is required. In this work was developed a reliable method for the determination of Pt in soils because of inherent difficulties in using conventional techniques, in particular, the ICP-OES technique. A determination of Pt using ICP-MS, for instance, is problematic, due to interfering signals. Differential pulse voltammetry (DPV/a) was employed by us for the determination of platinum in soils collected in Palermo area. Possible interferences by other environmental metals have been also evaluated. All samples show concentrations of Pt above average upper crust values; concentrations were found in the ranges 0.6–2240μ/kgd.w. We carried out linear regression analysis between total Pt concentrations in soils obtained in this work and Pt concentrations in leaves of Nerium oleander measured in previous researches. The high correlation coefficient obtained confirms the geographical distribution of the considered pollutant in the Palermo area. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A rapid accumulation of the catalytic active noble metals in the environmental and biological matrices was observed and concern arose about potential environmental and health risks. The development of reliable analytic methods to measure very low Pt and Rh concentrations is required. The main purpose of this work was to develop a reliable method for the determination of Pt and Rh in environmental matrices because of inherent difficulties in using conventional techniques used, in particular, the ICP-OES technique. A direct determination of Pt using ICP-MS, for instance, is problematic, due to interfering signals. In this work, differential pulse voltammetry (DPV/a) and adsorptive stripping voltammetry (AdSV) were used for the determination of Pt and Rh in Nerium oleander leaves. Pt and Rh concentrations were found in the ranges 0.33–25 and 0.40–4.6μg/kgd.w., respectively. We carried out linear regression analysis between total PAH concentrations in leaves of oleander and of Quercus ilex measured in previous researches and the data obtained in this work. The high correlation coefficients were obtained; which demonstrates that oleander leaves can be used to establish the presence and the distribution of pollutants in a chosen area. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Referring to written and iconographical sources, this paper discusses celebrations to honour St. Casimir that took place in 1604 and 1636 in Vilnius and in 1636 in Palermo. The purpose is to reveal the particularities, similarities and differences between St. Casimir's festivities that were celebrated at the same time, but in different places, or at different times, but in the same place. St. Casimir's festivities in 1604 should be associated to celebrations characteristic to the canonisation of saints at the time. The 1636 festivities dedicated to the saint are related to the transference of his remains into a new titular chapel of the Vilnius Cathedral. The same year, in another part of Europe, St. Casimir was announced the patron saint of Palermo, and a great theatricalised celebration took place on that occasion. The paper tries to answer the following questions: do the festivities under different names (St. Casimir's Procession, St. Casimir's Triumph) that were celebrated for different purposes differ in their expression and artistic highlights? Does the character of festivities depend on the country's traditions and on the power of local foundators? Do personal pious intentions influence in any way the size, image and sound of festivities? What is the 'long-term value' of 17th century St. Casimir's festivities in Vilnius and Palermo? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In the light of using biomaterial as pollutants sorbents for the environmental biomonitoring, we report here the results of the absorption of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by pine bark. Quantitative analysis of 19 different polycyclic aromatic compounds was performed, after Soxhlet extraction in dichloromethane, by means GC–MS technique. Pinus was chosen due to its wide distribution in the Mediterranean area. The passive absorption of PAH by pine bark in the metropolitan areas allowed us to evaluate the air quality of Palermo. The obtained results showed a very high range of PAHs concentrations, from 33μg/kg (bark dry weight), as ΣPAHs, at the control site to 1015μg/kg along a road with high traffic flow. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Effects of atmospheric pollution and seasonal variation on Al, Ba, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Pb, V and Zn concentration in Indian laurel (Ficus microcarpa L. f.) leaves were studied in the city of Palermo (Sicily, Italy). Samples were collected from six sampling sites representing either (a) areas of high traffic density or (b) areas further away from traffic (e.g. gardens). Samples were collected every two months during 1998 and 2000. Apart from Ba, Cr and Mn, the elements showed a significant temporal variation but no consistent trends in this were present; the highest (or lowest) values were not detected at some particular time of the year. Results show that the progressive phasing-out of leaded petrol in Italy has resulted in a decrease of Pb, whereas we detected some indications to increased foliar V in the course of time. Even though some spatial patterns were seen in some of the elements, concentrations were not significantly higher in areas representing high traffic density than in samples collected from gardens. Hence, our results do not give unreserved support to use F. microcarpa as a biomonitor. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The possible effect of washing leaf tissue on metal concentrations was studied in four ornamental plants (Nerium oleander L., Ficus microcarpa L. f., Ligustrum lucidum Ait. f., and Duranta repens L.). Elements determined were aluminum (Al), barium (Ba), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), magnesium (Mg), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), and vanadium (V). A portion of each studied sample was washed with distilled water, while the remainder of the sample was not washed. Significant differences in metal concentration between washed and unwashed samples were observed in some species. Washing effects differed with species and contaminants. The results are discussed in relation to leaf characteristics and to contaminant chemical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air activity concentrations of 7Be in Palermo determined for the period January 1995–December 2002 by γ-ray spectrometric analysis of particulate samples collected on paper filter by a high-volume sampler (~900 m3 h−1) are reported. The temporal behaviour of 7Be concentration presents the same characteristics already observed in the measurements carried out over the previous 13-year (1982–1994) investigated period. The mean value of 5.06 mBq m−3 obtained from the analysis of the 4636 particulate samples collected from 1982 to 2002 can be considered a representative value of 7Be air concentration at ground level in our geographical zone. The comparison of long-term variation in the 7Be concentrations with the cyclic solar activity—extended to the whole period of 21 years—confirms the inverse correlation between the two quantities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The purpose of this study is to analyze the appeals against a "suitability judgment for work" lodged to the U.O.S. "Health Prevention and Occupational Epidemiology Operative Unit" of Department of Prevention and Safety in the Working Environment within the ASP Palermo (U.O.S.), from 2008 to 2010. Studying the appeals gives an indirect view on the occupational physician activity and allows to monitor their actions, analysis aims at highlighting those issues around which any planning and implementation of coordination activities should be focused. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper interrogates familial devotion and its relationship with parts of the house other than the chapel. In detail, it aims to problematize the issue of the devotional/non-devotional use of paintings inside the house by moving the focus from this dual opposition to the active role of canvases, broadly defined. Informed by Jacques Derrida's and Pierre Bourdieu's writings, this paper argues for the structural nature of the paintings inside the house and their meaningful correlation with both the arrangement of the domestic interior and the practices of people experiencing those spaces. To do this, the paper challenges the overwhelming attention paid by early-modern scholars to Northern and central Italy and investigates a precise case study, i.e., Palazzo Scordia in Palermo (Sicily). The research draws upon primary sources and amongst these, upon two detailed inventories of furniture referring to two subsequent generations of an aristocratic clan residing in Palermo between the seventeenth and the eighteenth century, i.e., Ercole and Giuseppe Branciforti, princes of Scordia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: For neurological disorders we consider every possible affection of the central nervous system or neuro-muscular junction, in the presence of complex syndromes as well, such as Cornelia De Lange syndrome or any other. In our experience the incidence of neurological or neuromuscular envolment in patients affected by noncompaction is low. An incidence of comorbidities higher than 20% is not recorded in any centre, in published experiences. Data of the Vienna group could be likely influenced by selection bias (second level centre) or territorial genetic factors, or could depend on higher sensibility of used diagnostic techniques of neurological disease. But, if it was so, in our opinion, let me assert that patients routinely underwent so sensible and accurate neurological tests only for cognitive purpose, without practical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]