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Copyright of Iraqi Journal of Desert Studies is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

During the 2019 excavation works carried out by the University of Jordan in cooperation with the Department of Antiquities, at the archaeological site of Jerash, ancient Gerasa, Northern Jordan, a considerable collection of different objects of different materials, typologies and colours were uncovered in a Late Roman - Late Early Byzantine area. A distinguished intact and huge glass vessel was uncovered from this site, obviously subjected to intensive deterioration. X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) and optical digital microscopy (ODM) analysis of glass, and surrounding sediment tests were made to characterize and assess the damage and apply proper conservation actions. The results of the present case study indicated that this glass vessel is of sodalime-silica type corresponding to the previously defined Levantine I glass group, archaeologically dated back to the Early Byzantine period (4th-5th Century AD). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A field study was conducted during the summer season 2018, in Zekheikhah village west of Iraq to determine the effect of potassium application method and Water deficit stress on a number of quantitative and qualitative characteristics of sesame crop. Results revealed that application of potassium application method, dividing the recommended amount of potassium into two parts, the first is added to the soil when planting and the other part by spraying when flowering, led to a significant increase in the parameters of the oil quality in the seeds, the yield and its components. Low water availability (T3) significantly decreased in oil% and seed yield. The seed yield reduction was mainly due to a reduction in seed weight and a reduction in seed number in capsules. Moderate shortage (T2) of irrigation water availability (irrigation every 20 days) neither affected negatively improved oil percentage and weight of 1000 grains. In terms of the interaction between irrigation intervals and potassium application method, the evidence showed that the potassium plays a vital role in reducing the negative effect of water deficiency, as observed from the interaction in case of absence of the K fertilizer, where the results showed in the combination of with no potassium, less watering has led to a reduction in the most yield components and the oil content of seeds. To improve crop the resistance to drought, management practices should be considered for reducing drought-related issues in major sesame crop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A field study was conducted at the Agriculture Research Station in Abu Ghraib, during spring season 2018. Eight strains of corn (Zea mays L.) were provided from the same station to be used in the study (i.e., Sxn.22, MGW.11, and lnb.17, Inb.23, O.7, Am.63, Zm.69 and S.17) have numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8) consequently. Five lines were crossed with three testers to produce 15 individual hybrid, the seeds of hybrid were cultivated in comparison experiment by using Randomize Complete Block Design (R.C.B.D), with three replications to determine the best strains and their individual hybrids, depending on its performance, genetic analysis (GA) for General and Specific Combining Ability (GCA; SCA) and Gene Action (GA), in addition to determine some genetic characteristics i.e., Plant Height (PLH), Leaf Area (LA),Number of Ears Per Plant (NEPP), Number of Rows Per Ear (NRPE), Number of Grains Per Row (NGPR), Weight of 250 Grains (250 WGHT) and Total Grains’ Yield per plant (TGY). The results of statistical analysis showed high significant differences between genotypes (parents + hybrids) for all studied traits. The strain 5 had the highest mean related to PLH and 250 WGHT while the strain 1 was the best in terms of LA, NRPE, NGPR and TGY. Regarding to the tester, the tester (8) was the best in terms of TGY, NEPP, NRPE and NGPR. Regarding to hybrids, the crossed 2 x 6 was the best in related to NEPP, NRPE and TGY per plant. The results of genetic analysis also showed highly significant differences for the mean of squares for GCA and SCA for all traits under study except NRPE, NGPR and TGY per plant that were insignificant for the GCA. Strain 1 showed the best effect of desired trend GCA for TGY and the most studied traits. The cross 2 × 6 had the highest positive effect for SCA related to TGY trait. Furthermore, the percentage of GCA and SCA variance was less than one in all studied traits. The value of broad sense heritability was high in all studied traits except the NGPR, which was low value, while the narrow sense heritability percentage was with low value.in addition to; the average degree of dominance was more than one for all studied traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a new protocol of consolidation for basaltic stone artifacts was investigated. A considerable series of samples of deteriorated basaltic artifacts were collected from the Rujm el-kursi archaeological site in Jordan. Colloidal dispersion was prepared to act as a consolidant solution for the selected basalt artifacts. The phase behavior for a system composed of Water/Calcium hydroxide/Isopropyl alcohol Tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS)/Paraloid B72 was investigated. The resulting ternary phase diagram was used to prepare the optimum formulation for consolidant dispersion. A series of laboratory experiments were conducted to evaluate the efficiency of the prepared dispersion. Experiments included capillarity water absorption, penetration of water, water drop absorption, salts movement and accelerated artificial aging test. Treated samples were investigated using scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD). X-ray fluorescent (XRF) and polarizing microscope (PM). The results of laboratory experiments showed that the prepared colloidal dispersion expressed acceptable efficient in strengthening the internal structure of stone. Obvious changes in the mineralogical composition of treated samples were not recorded. The treated basalt stone appeared to be water repellent; can decrease the penetration of water, which in turn led to the decrease of salts crystallization process inside basalt stone pores. The prepared dispersion appeared to be stable against accelerated aging factors and eff ective in decreasing the basalt stone decaying process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sample of 29 glasses uncovered from Tell Es-Sukhnah, Jordan, has been subjected for XRF analysis. The group of sample consisted of two main categories: samples from glass vessels and glass bracelets. The main aim of this analysis is to identify and authenticate the raw materials used in glass production, manufacture technology and the technical choices related to glass objects from the Roman to Byzantine and Islamic occupations at the site. Chronologically speaking, the chemical analysis of the samples enables the distinguishing between Roman soda natron glass and Islamic soda plant ash glass at this freshly excavated site. The most important observation was that the transition in the use of traditional methods and of the same sources of raw materials for glass-making occurred, with obvious modifications, from natron to plant ash and from calcium-rich sand to calcium -free sand through the period from 1st to10th century AD at this southern Levantine site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The finding of considerable remains of glass mosaic floors, together with great stone mosaic floors dated back to Byzantine period (6th to 7th century A.D) from the Cross Church at the Jerash/Jerasa archaeological site in northern Jordan represented a strange phenomenon (glass mosaic). The chemical analysis of ancient glass mosaic tesserae can provide important information regarding the manufacturing technology of the glass mosaic made during a specific period. The aim of this study is to characterize the chemical and technological aspects of Byzantine glasses excavated from this main archaeological site. For this purpose, a considerable group of glass tesserae of different colours were collected and analyzed by XRF spectroscopy. XRD spectroscopy was used to identify the crystalline phases of glass tesserae and mineralogically to characterize the underlying lime mortar. All samples were investigated by optical microscopy. The results of chemical analyses indicated that the glass tesserae show a clear difference in chemical composition. The majority of the glass tesserae are compositionally homogeneous and belongs to the so-called natron-based silica-soda-lime glass type, whereas some samples are of relatively high level content of lead and aluminium. The tesserae colorants and opacifiers also are varied. Microscopic examination show obvious formal differences among glass tesserae samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]