Once visited only by the cognoscenti of the ancient world, over the last decade Petra has drawn almost a million visitors in some years. Petra burst into popular consciousness with the release of ...enormously popular motion picture Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981. Moviegoers all over the world were introduced to some of the spectacular scenic wonders of Petra: the Siq, a narrow chasm with colorful, towering sandstone walls, and Al-Khazna, the exquisitely carved tomb for a Nabataean king. For centuries, the Nabataeans controlled the trade in precious commodities across the Arabian Peninsula, bring spices from Southeast Asia, incense from present-day Yemen, gold and ivory from Africa, and silk from the Far East across the Empty Quarter to ports on the western Mediterranean. In 1985, Petra was included on the list of World Heritage Sites. Since then, low cost jet travel and a fast highway from the capital city of Amman have made the site increasingly accessible. The Jordanian government has made attracting tourists to Jordan a top priority. For all of the attention that Petra has received, it is still surprisingly poorly understood. A widely accepted chronology of the city, even the dates of major tombs and monuments, has yet to be established. Even the mystery of why and how Arab nomads adopted a sedentary lifestyle and built a great city has yet to be fully explained. Will Petras popularity as a tourism destination overshadow the importance of addressing these questions, and, more importantly, will tourism damage the archaeological remains there in ways that make answers more difficult or even impossible to find?
Petra, Jordan became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1985, and the semi-nomadic Bedouin inhabiting the area were resettled as a consequence. The Bedouin themselves paradoxically became UNESCO ...Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Heritage in 2005 for the way in which their oral traditions and everyday lives relate to the landscape they no longer live in. Being Bedouin Around Petra asks: How could this happen? And what does it mean to be Bedouin when tourism, heritage protection, national discourse, an Islamic Revival and even New Age spiritualism lay competing claims to the past in the present?
Ancient literary sources from the Hellenistic and Roman world describe the wide-spread practices of funerary feasting and supplying offerings for the deceased. However, the funerary customs of the ...Nabataeans are still not clearly understood within this broader cultural sphere. Evidence for feasting in Nabataean mortuary contexts largely relies on ceramic and faunal remains but rarely are plant remains included in these analyses. This paper presents archaeobotanical evidence from Nabatean-period tomb deposits from Petra, Jordan, to highlight the role plants played in this type of ritual context. Analysis of samples taken from eight rock-cut shaft tombs, excavated over three seasons (2012, 2014 and 2016), on the North Ridge of Petra, indicates the presence of a variety foodstuffs such as Triticum sp. (wheats), Hordeum vulgare (barley), Lens culinaris (lentil), Vitis vinifera (grape), Ficus carica (fig), Olea europaea (olive) and Phoenix dactylifera (date). These finds provide intriguing evidence of plants consumed or used as offerings during funerary ritual events. This study, in association with the analysis of bioarchaeological remains and ceramics expands our knowledge of Nabataean funerary practices and contributes to a broader understanding of the role of plants in ritual funerary events in the ancient world.
•Synthesis of new heterocyclic compound based on 8-hydroxyquinoline with different advantages.•Theoretical optimization by DFT (Density Functional Theory) level of theory and Mechanistic study by ...molecular docking .•Screening “in vitro” against E. coli, S. aureus and P. aeruginosa by means the disk method.•Discovered the ideal structural topology to inhibit Gram (+) and Gram (-) bacteria.•Identification of pharmacophore sites and toxicity risks by the use of Petra/Osiris/Molinspiration (POM).
This study aims to synthesize new pyrrolic compounds derivatives of 8-hydroxyquinoline, explore the structure-activity relationship and the effect of the substituents carried by the pyrrole ring on their antibacterial properties. These compounds were characterized by IR, 1H, 13C NMR and elemental analysis. The NMR predicted chemical shifts were determined by the GIAO approach and the solvent effect was taken into account using the polarizable continuum model (PCM). The evaluation of the antibacterial activity was carried out "in vitro" against three bacterial strains namely; E. coli (ATCC35218), S. aureus (ATCC29213) and P. aeruginosa (ATCC27853) using the disk method. The results of antibacterial activity were compared with those of a standard antibiotic (Norfloxacin). The Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations (MICs) were calculated and discussed. The results of the experimental tests were supported by bioinformatics Docking, DFT and POM studies.
A new resonant inelastic X‐ray scattering (RIXS) instrument has been constructed at beamline P01 of the PETRA III synchrotron. This instrument has been named IRIXS (intermediate X‐ray energy RIXS) ...and is dedicated to X‐rays in the tender‐energy regime (2.5–3.5 keV). The range covers the L2,3 absorption edges of many of the 4d elements (Mo, Tc, Ru, Rh, Pd and Ag), offering a unique opportunity to study their low‐energy magnetic and charge excitations. The IRIXS instrument is currently operating at the Ru L3‐edge (2840 eV) but can be extended to the other 4d elements using the existing concept. The incoming photons are monochromated with a four‐bounce Si(111) monochromator, while the energy analysis of the outgoing photons is performed by a diced spherical crystal analyzer featuring (102) lattice planes of quartz (SiO2). A total resolution of 100 meV (full width at half‐maximum) has been achieved at the Ru L3‐edge, a number that is in excellent agreement with ray‐tracing simulations.
A resonant inelastic X‐ray scattering instrument operating in the intermediate X‐ray range is described in detail. The instrument is operated at beamline P01 of the PETRA III synchrotron in Hamburg, Germany.
The IRIXS Spectrograph represents a new design of an ultra‐high‐resolution resonant inelastic X‐ray scattering (RIXS) spectrometer that operates at the Ru L3‐edge (2840 eV). First proposed in the ...field of hard X‐rays by Shvyd'ko (2015), Phys. Rev. A, 91, 053817, the X‐ray spectrograph uses a combination of laterally graded multilayer mirrors and collimating/dispersing Ge(111) crystals optics in a novel spectral imaging approach to overcome the energy resolution limitation of a traditional Rowland‐type spectrometer Gretarsson et al. (2020), J. Synchrotron Rad.27, 538–544. In combination with a dispersionless nested four‐bounce high‐resolution monochromator design that utilizes Si(111) and Al2O3(110) crystals, an overall energy resolution better than 35 meV full width at half‐maximum has been achieved at the Ru L3‐edge, in excellent agreement with ray‐tracing simulations.
A resonant inelastic X‐ray scattering (RIXS) spectrograph based upon Montel optics capable of energy resolutions better than 35 meV at the Ru L3‐edge (2840 eV) has been constructed at beamline P01 of the PETRA III synchrotron.
•Ultrasonic-assisted synthesis of new sulfonamide schiff base derivatives.•New oxazepine derivatives were synthesized using Microwave-technique.•Low-Cytotoxic, hemolytic Antimicrobial, and ...antioxidant agents were observed.•Molecular docking and DFT computational analyses have been predicted.•Identification of pharmacokinetic properties, bioactivity scores and pharmacophore site by POM analyses.
The eco-friendly sonication and microwave irradiation techniques were used for the straight forward synthesis of the Schiff base platform from sulfathiazole. Herein, Schiff bases were developed and converted to oxazepane derivatives. Compounds were tested for their antimicrobial, antioxidant, in vivo cytotoxicity activity. Moreover, density functional theory (DFT) and molecular docking studies were also carried out to explore the structural prpoperties and interaction of compounds with the receptor molecules. In vitro antimicrobial activity was determined against Gram-positive and Gram-negative strains via microdilution technique, which showed that the synthesized derivatives exhibit significant antimicrobial activity. Furthermore, in vivo cytotoxicity activity of the compounds were carried out via intravenous injection in rats. The results were compared with negative controls and it was observed that most of the synthesized compounds displayed excellent antimicrobial activity and low toxicity in comparison to references and negative controls, respectively. Hemolysis test was carried out for bioactive compounds, and results showed higher hemolysis values of the Schiff bases than the correponding oxazepines and lower hemolytic effects. The free radical inhibittion and antioxidant activity was carried out by using 2,2′-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) methods which suggested that the free radical scavenging activity increases with the presence of hydroxyl group. The Spectral measurements fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and high resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HRESIMS) confirmed the structure of the compounds.
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