| 41. |
- Adamo, Nasrat, et al.
(författare)
-
The first Century of Islam and the Question of Land and its Cultivation (636-750 AD)
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Journal of Earth Sciences and Geotechnical Engineering. - uk : Scientific Press International Limited. - 1792-9040 .- 1792-9660. ; 10:3, s. 137-158
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The new era after the fall of the Sasanian Empire, which is marked by the Muslims dominion over Iraq, as part of the Islamic Empire. It was only two years after the death of the Prophet Mohammad that the real efforts to spread Islam outside the Arabian Peninsula were made during the reign of the second Khalifah ‘Umar ibn al- Khattab. The Arabs at that time pushed their way forcefully into Iraq, and almost simultaneously into Syria (Bilad al- Sham) and caused the total collapse of the Sassanians Empire and the occupation of large part of the Roman Empire. The Islamic troops that invaded Iraq settled with their families in new towns, which they had built as encampments. Basrah and Kufa were the first of these towns and followed later on by Wasit. The locations of these cities and the further steps taken in their development are described here. Basrah being at some distance from Shatt- al Arab and the Euphrates had no water supply and therefore two large canals, the Ubulla canal and al- Ma’qal canals, which were excavated on the orders of ‘Umar himself, brought water to it. The policy adopted in the following years was to grant the lands around Basrah freely to wealthy Muslim investors who should reclaim these lands and excavate irrigation canals for their cultivation. This was known as the qati’as system of land ownership, which resulted in a boom in agriculture in the area. The treasury had benefitted from the tax imposed on these lands and their yield, which was called (Karaj). The same qati’a system was practiced in Kufa but to lesser extent than around Basrah as most of the land was already cultivated and owned by people who did not resist the Muslims conquest and therefore they were entitled to keep their lands against payment of another type of tax. The only lands that were granted as qati’as were those, which had belonged to the Persian Crown or owned by Persians who had left after the conquest. The lands in this area mostly belonged to the He’rians who had their capitol al- Hira, close to Kufa and their kingdom was a vassal kingdom under the Sassanians. In the other case, of the city of Wasit the third Islamic city to be built in Iraq, established by al Hajjaj. He was the governor of Iraq during the Islamic Umayyad dynasty rule (661- 750). The town he had built was on the right bank of Tigris in the rich district of Kaskar south of Misan .It was renowned for its fertility and good agriculture. Nevertheless its lower part had been flooded by the famous flood of the 629 AD late in the Persian empire timeline in which the Tigris River had abandoned its eastern course (present day course) and ran in a new western course on which Wasit later on was built. The Hajjaj who ruled for 20 years during the Umayyad period therefore had the opportunity of reclaiming large tracts of the land around Wasit and large areas adjacent to the Great Swamp (Batayih) in which he also gave many of the qati’as grants to investors in the same way as was done before in Basrah. Generally, Hajjaj who was very much occupied in quelling revolts and mutinies had also the time to oversee maintenance works of existing canals and dig many more of them.Iraq, during this period and for a long time, which followed, became as wealthy as it used to be during the high time of the Sassanids, and its canal networks functioned well while its fertile and fluvial land supported flourishing agriculture and generated large revenue to the treasury (Bait al- Mall). All the time during the Islamic era until the fall of Baghdad in 1258 AD Iraq was called al- Sawad land, which came from the dark color of the extensive cultivations, farms and lush green orchards of palm trees and fruits as they appeared on the horizon. Al Sawad as defined by the contemporary Muslim scholars extended from Hulwan (Qasir e- Shirin) to Haditha in the north to the tip of the Gulf and Qadisiyya on the edge of the desert in the South.
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| 42. |
- Adamo, Nasrat, et al.
(författare)
-
The Greeks and the Sassanids : A new Glorious Era for Agriculture (330-625 AD)
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Journal of Earth Sciences and Geotechnical Engineering. - UK : Scientific Press International Limited. - 1792-9040 .- 1792-9660. ; 10:3, s. 113-135
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Achaemenid Empire collapsed after the failure of King Darius III to stop the sweeping advance of Alexander in Anatolia towards Persia. Therefore, Alexander entered Babylon in 331 BC before advancing into the heartland of Persia itself and occupying its other major cities and advancing from there into India. At this point, begins to describe the period of the Greek domination at the return of Alexander to Babylon, which was followed, later on by yet another period of Persian domination of Mesopotamia. During his stay in Babylon Alexander looked into the conditions of the irrigation and water works. Although the canal networks were in good conditions when they were left from the Archimedean’s time, he nevertheless ordered the cleaning of all the canal intakes on the Euphrates River. His major undertaking, however, was to solve the problem of the canal called the Popallacopas. This canal was used to pass the floodwater of the Euphrates down to the marshes and from there to the Persian Gulf while the Euphrates continued its course through Babylon in the reach, which was known, as the Babil River. Every flood season the Popallacopas closing dike was breached to pass the flood but the task of constructing it back afterwards was very difficult. The closure was necessary to ensure suitably high water levels to serve Babylon itself during the low water season, the closing operation of the intake, which was located in a ground of sandy soils, needed large working force of not less than 10000 men. Following the advice of his engineers, Alexander solved this problem by excavating a new head reach channel from another location above the first one but located in good and firm ground. Alexander ‘s next move was aimed at the reclamation of the marshy lands located near the present day of Najaf and to this end he constructed a massive earthen dyke between Babil River and the marsh north of the present day town of al-Shanafiyah as a preliminary step to dry the marsh and then prepare it for canalization and cultivation. Alexander premature death in June of the year 331BC however put an end to this work. In the aftermath of Alexander’s death his empire was divided between his generals; Persia, Mesopotamia and Anatolia passed to Alexander’s general Seleucus I Nicator who founded the Seleucid Empire (648-312BC) and succeeded in extending it also to cover the whole region of the Fertile Crescent. Various Persian satrapies (vassal kingdoms) such as Aria, Parthia, Fars, Media, Atropatene, paid taxes to the Seleucids but ruled with a great deal of independence. Seleucus inaugurated his reign by building a new capital for the empire, which was the Seleucia-on-Tigris on the western bank of the Tigris 60 kilometers northeast of Babylon, not far from the confluence of Tigris and Diyala.The lands of Mesopotamia at this point in time, had been already irrigated successfully by a system of canals maintained under the supervision of the State and agriculture was as usual the prime and most important basis of all the prosperity the empire had enjoyed. However, being a corridor between east and west Mesopotamia remained at the middle of conflicts with other outside powers and new rising tribal forces seeking to have their own kingdoms and empires. This was the case with the Parthians coming from the Persian heartland that had rebelled against the Seleucids after being vassals to them, and then vanquished their empire and took over its domains including Mesopotamia. In establishing themselves in Mesopotamia the Parthians moved their capital to Ctesiphon on the eastern bank of the Tigris opposite to Seleucia-on-Tigris about 58 BC, and remained the capital of the this empire until it was passed to the hands of the next Persian dynasty of the Sassanid. During the Parthian empire rule the economic prosperity was directly related to the upkeep of the irrigation systems and agricultural practices. Mesopotamia and the Persian lowlands of Khuzestan were the traditional centers of growing wheat, barley, and other cereals, while dates and other fruits were regularly produced and often exported. In the highlands of northeastern part of Mesopotamia and the Persian plateau, pastoralism and other forms of animal husbandry outweighed farming, although sowing various grains, most importantly wheat, as well as growing fruits, was also common. An earlier presence of rice in west Asia especially Mesopotamia might have also occurred through initial farming in eastern Persia and Transoxania. In the middle and south of Mesopotamia the Parthians looked well over the irrigation systems. In northeastern part of Mesopotamia and in Transoxiana the Kariz underground systems were used and maintained for the water supply of agriculture. The maintenance of all these systems was an important task of the Parthian Empire, often hinting on the strength or weakness of the government in certain periods of its history. It was also the case that in times of chaos and destabilization, that the maintenance of both the Kariz and the irrigation canals were neglected, causing further problems by weakening the agrarian, economy and causing further destabilization. Land tenure during the Parthian era did not differ much from the Babylonian or the Achaemenids eras. There were always two groups of people, either landlords or landless population, owners with large land holdings, usually members of the nobility and the court, controlled most of the productive land in the empire and, therefore families having such vast land areas would provide the basis of the later decentralized system under the Parthians. Another class of land-owning gentry, called the Azatan, also existed who were entitled to royal property in exchange for military service. The Azatan cavalry formed the hard core of the Parthian army and was mainly responsible for the Parthian success in external wars and in the quick initial expansion of the empire.
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| 43. |
- Adamo, Nasrat, et al.
(författare)
-
The Neo-Assyrians : Warriors and Canal Buildersunder Sennacherib (911-609BC)
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Journal of Earth Sciences and Geotechnical Engineering. - UK : Scientific Press International Limited. - 1792-9040 .- 1792-9660. ; 10:3, s. 59-86
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Assyrians established their empire in upper Mesopotamia after crushing Babylonia. In this narration, we describe among other things the achievements of their great kings in building new cities and constructing waterworks for water supply of these cities and for irrigating the lands in their surroundings. The introduction of Sargon II for the Kariz irrigation system, which he had used to supply his new capital Dur-Sharrukin, is detailed. This was followed by describing the great works of his son Sinnecharib, who after building his new capitol Nineveh brought water to it from the upstream reach of the Khosr river by excavating a large canal called Kisiri Canal and creating a reservoir. He even arranged to release the floodwater into a nearby depression, which he turned to a reserve for wild animals. Finding out that the canal discharge was not enough for all his cultivations and parks he tapped springs in the surrounding hills and mountains and collected their water in eighteen canals to supplement the reservoir. In this scheme he constructed also all the required engineering structure such as weirs and dams. However, his biggest achievement in this work was in drawing water from the Khazir- Gomel River from a point northeast of Nineveh and bringing it to the same reservoir by excavating a very large 50 kilometers canal. The canal is named as the Bavian canal in reference to the name of the location of its intake. Full description of the site, the diversion weir needed, and the intake structure are presented and illustrated by photographs and maps. One of the major structures of this canal, the Jarwan aqueduct, which was employed to pass the stream over a very wide wadi, is described in details as it gives insight of the ingenuity of the people of that time and shows how they had dealt with such cases.Sinnecharib was also responsible for constructing more large hydraulic works; of these the Kariz system of Bastoura- Erbil is fully described and his improvement on the water supply scheme of the city of Kalhu (Nimrud) and its irrigation project originally built by king Ashurnasirpal II (883- 859BC) are also presented. Moreover, a general idea is given in this paper on agriculture and the types of crops and vegetable and fruits grown to indicate the prosperity of this empire. However, as always in similar cases, this empire was distained to fall after internal conflicts over the throne and external attacks from outside envious enemies. Some authors even add another reason, which is the drought which had hit the heartland of Assyria in later stage. So the story of the Assyrian Empire ended in the year 612 BC when Nineveh fell to the combined forces of the Babylonians and Medes and the defeat of its last king Ashur-Uballit who was defeated in his last stronghold in Haran which took place taken in 610 BC.
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| 44. |
- Adamo, Nasrat, et al.
(författare)
-
The Sumerians and the Akkadians : The Forerunners of the First Civilization (2900-2003BC)
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Journal of Earth Sciences and Geotechnical Engineering. - UK : Scientific Press International Limited. - 1792-9040 .- 1792-9660. ; 10:3, s. 17-39
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sumerians were the first People in history to invent the cuneiform script, which made the reporting of their achievements possible. Therefore, this had marked the beginning of written history. Moreover, their experience as pioneers in practicing large-scale irrigation is detailed in this paper, which also describes the intricate canal networks systems they had constructed together with the engineering works related to them. The land was flat and the two rivers had built themselves to higher levels than the surrounding lands by the continuous silting process, so gravity irrigation became possible and the people took the opportunity to construct these networks and establish their communities here. Description of the political and social developments, which led to the establishment of the city-states, is also given together with a list of the most prominent ones, and their locations are shown on a map indicating the heartland of Samaria in southern part of Iraq; close to the Persian Gulf. Wars between some city-states over water rights are detailed with their results in excavation of new canals, which are described here. A vivid description of the irrigation canals and the hydraulic structures that were needed and built are also presented which show that the Sumerians were versed in hydraulic principles, while in illustrating their methods of land preparation, seeding, irrigation and harvesting indicates they were skillful farmers. Moreover, the tools and implements invented for field operations such as those for water control, land preparation, seeding and harvesting, which are fully described, show that they were also inventors.The type of crops produced are given special attention and the abundance of yield they obtained was outlined indicating that surpluses had encouraged trading with other parts outside Samaria and so new commercial relations were developed. The economic aspects of this civilization such as wages and loans for farmers, work specialization and the appearance of new professions to meet cultivation requirements were described. The social hierarchy on which social relations and organization of work was based are presented especially those related to the agricultural and irrigation works which are given their share of explanation and discussion. Flood protection works needed for better safety from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers recurrent floods were routine practices of the Sumerians to protect themselves and their lands from the grave dangers of these floods. Therefore, they excelled in them, while canals maintenance by constant dredging of the silt brought down by the two rivers every year was a constant concern. The Sumerians over long period had accepted within them some other people namely, the Akkadians who intermingled with them, lived in their cities, and even mixed with them in marriages. This explains how a smooth transition of power had resulted in the rise of the Akkadians King Sargon, after he had started as a high-ranking official at the court of (Ur- Zababa) the last Sumerian king and replaced him to mark the start of the Semitic Akkadian domination, which lasted almost 200 years to 2150 BC. Sargon managed afterwards to unite all the city-states and establish the first empire in the world extending well beyond Sumeria, so it was said that his influence was felt from Egypt in the west to India in the east.Finally, this paper presents briefly the various theories behind the decline of the Sumerian- Akkadians power and the reasons for passing this to the new rising city of Babylon, which took over this civilization to establish its own.
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| 45. |
- Adewumi, Oluwatosin, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
-
Corpora Compared : The Case of the Swedish Gigaword & Wikipedia Corpora
- 2020
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this work, we show that the difference in performance of embeddings from differently sourced data for a given language can be due to other factors besides data size. Natural language processing (NLP) tasks usually perform better with embeddings from bigger corpora. However, broadness of covered domain and noise can play important roles. We evaluate embeddings based on two Swedish corpora: The Gigaword and Wikipedia, in analogy (intrinsic) tests and discover that the embeddings from the Wikipedia corpus generally outperform those from the Gigaword corpus, which is a bigger corpus. Downstream tests will be required to have a definite evaluation.
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| 46. |
- Adewumi, Oluwatosin, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
-
Inner For-Loop for Speeding Up Blockchain Mining
- 2020
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Ingår i: Open Computer Science. - Poland : Walter de Gruyter. - 2299-1093. ; 10:1, s. 42-47
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, the authors propose to increase the efficiency of blockchain mining by using a population-based approach. Blockchain relies on solving difficult mathematical problems as proof-of-work within a network before blocks are added to the chain. Brute force approach, advocated by some as the fastest algorithm for solving partial hash collisions and implemented in Bitcoin blockchain, implies exhaustive, sequential search. It involves incrementing the nonce (number) of the header by one, then taking a double SHA-256 hash at each instance and comparing it with a target value to ascertain if lower than that target. It excessively consumes both time and power. In this paper, the authors, therefore, suggest using an inner for-loop for the population-based approach. Comparison shows that it’s a slightly faster approach than brute force, with an average speed advantage of about 1.67% or 3,420 iterations per second and 73% of the time performing better. Also, we observed that the more the total particles deployed, the better the performance until a pivotal point. Furthermore, a recommendation on taming the excessive use of power by networks, like Bitcoin’s, by using penalty by consensus is suggested.
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| 47. |
- Adewumi, Tosin P., 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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The Challenge of Diacritics in Yorùbá Embeddings
- 2020
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Ingår i: ML4D 2020 Proceedings. - : Neural Information Processing Systems Foundation.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The major contributions of this work include the empirical establishment of a better performance for Yoruba embeddings from undiacritized (normalized) dataset and provision of new analogy sets for evaluation.The Yoruba language, being a tonal language, utilizes diacritics (tonal marks) in written form. We show that this affects embedding performance by creating embeddings from exactly the same Wikipedia dataset but with the second one normalized to be undiacritized. We further compare average intrinsic performance with two other work (using analogy test set & WordSim) and we obtain the best performance in WordSim and corresponding Spearman correlation.
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| 48. |
- Adewumi, Tosin P., 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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Vector Representations of Idioms in Chatbots
- 2020
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Ingår i: Proceedings. - : Chalmers University of Technology.
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Open-domain chatbots have advanced but still have many gaps. My PhD aims to solve a few of those gaps by creating vector representations of idioms (figures of speech) that will be beneficial to chatbots and natural language processing (NLP), generally. In the process, new, optimal fastText embeddings in Swedish and English have been created and the first Swedish analogy test set, larger than the Google original, for intrinsic evaluation of Swedish embeddings has also been produced. Major milestones have been attained and others are soon to follow. The deliverables of this project will give NLP researchers the opportunity to measure the quality of Swedish embeddings easily and advance state-of-the-art (SotA) in NLP.
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| 49. |
- Adolfsson, Lars, et al.
(författare)
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Union of Scaphoid Waist Fractures in Adults Despite No or Minimal Immobilization : a Report of Five Cases
- 2020
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Ingår i: SN Comprehensive Clinical Medicine. - : Springer. - 2523-8973. ; 2:4, s. 491-495
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Traditionally scaphoid waist fractures have been treated with a long period, 10–12 weeks, of immobilization in a plaster cast until radiological union. The long period of immobilization sometimes infers great discomfort for the patients. To avoid this, surgical treatment with screw fixation has for the last decade been advocated as an option also for undisplaced fractures. In this report, we present five cases with undisplaced scaphoid waist fractures that have healed both radiologically and clinically without any immobilization at all or after a very short period of protection in a cast. These observations challenge the current treatment guidelines.
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| 50. |
- Adom, P. K., et al.
(författare)
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Degree of financialization and energy efficiency in Sub-Saharan Africa: do institutions matter?
- 2020
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Ingår i: Financial Innovation. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2199-4730. ; 6:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7 emphasizes the need for economies around the world to double their efforts in energy efficiency improvements. This is because improvements in energy efficiency can trigger economic growth and considered as one of the 'green' growth strategies due to its carbon free content. To this end, some empirical studies have investigated the nexus between economic growth and energy efficiency, but the effects of the latter on financial indicators have not been sufficiently studied in the literature, at least in developing economies like Africa. This study examines the effect of energy efficiency improvements on commercial bank profitability under different political regimes (i.e., autocratic and democratic political regimes); something previous literature had neglected. The study uses panel data, consisting of 43 African countries and the simultaneous System Generalized Method of Moments. We found that energy efficiency improvement is more likely to induce higher bank profitability in political institutions with the characteristics of centralization of power compared with those with decentralization of power. Furthermore, for the banking sector, the findings suggest that energy utilization behavior of clients should be included in the loan or credit valuation process. For the government, the agenda of energy efficiency should be aggressively pursued while taking cognizance of creating a political environment that weans itself from a 'grandfathering' behavior.
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