King Khalid University Wins Award, Medals in WorldInvent 2023

King Khalid University Wins Award, Medals in WorldInvent 2023
TT
20

King Khalid University Wins Award, Medals in WorldInvent 2023

King Khalid University Wins Award, Medals in WorldInvent 2023

King Khalid University has won three gold medals and one silver at the WorldInvent 2023 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition in Singapore.

It also received a special award from China as the university's projects were the best entrepreneur projects in the competition, SPA reported.

The gold medals were earned by medical student Rayan Mohammed Al-Qahtani for his project "Smart Medical Bed", which contributes to increasing the effectiveness of the emergency department and assists doctors in monitoring the patient's condition continuously and in dealing with the case directly after being allowed by the responsible physician.

The project submitted by Saeed Turki Al-Wadi, student at the Faculty of Computer Science "FETHABOT", won gold for a smart robot that interacts with humans in buildings, assists visitors and disabled people in getting to their designated destination easier, and answers their queries using artificial intelligence and several supporting technologies.

The third gold-winning project was submitted by Muna Hassan Mishta, student at the Faculty of Computer Science; the project, "Fire Hawk Drone", uses drones attached to AI cameras to send reports on the situation of entrapped people before civil defense personnel and paramedics arrive at the location.

Students Maram Awad Al-Qahtani and Shaima Hmoud Al-Asiri from the Faculty of Computer Science received the silver medal for their "Eye Expression Survey Tool" project, which helps read pupils' patterns and conditions, using artificial intelligence, thus helping teachers assess the level of concentration of students in the classroom.



Ancient DNA Shows Genetic Link Between Egypt and Mesopotamia

This photo provided by researchers shows rock-cut tombs in Nuwayrat, Egypt where a pottery vessel in which the remains of a man, radiocarbon dated to around 2855–2570 cal BCE, was discovered. (John Garstang, Mahmoud Abd El Gelel/Garstang Museum of Archaeology/University of Liverpool via AP)
This photo provided by researchers shows rock-cut tombs in Nuwayrat, Egypt where a pottery vessel in which the remains of a man, radiocarbon dated to around 2855–2570 cal BCE, was discovered. (John Garstang, Mahmoud Abd El Gelel/Garstang Museum of Archaeology/University of Liverpool via AP)
TT
20

Ancient DNA Shows Genetic Link Between Egypt and Mesopotamia

This photo provided by researchers shows rock-cut tombs in Nuwayrat, Egypt where a pottery vessel in which the remains of a man, radiocarbon dated to around 2855–2570 cal BCE, was discovered. (John Garstang, Mahmoud Abd El Gelel/Garstang Museum of Archaeology/University of Liverpool via AP)
This photo provided by researchers shows rock-cut tombs in Nuwayrat, Egypt where a pottery vessel in which the remains of a man, radiocarbon dated to around 2855–2570 cal BCE, was discovered. (John Garstang, Mahmoud Abd El Gelel/Garstang Museum of Archaeology/University of Liverpool via AP)

Ancient DNA has revealed a genetic link between the cultures of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, according to research published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

Researchers sequenced whole genomes from the teeth of a remarkably well-preserved skeleton found in a sealed funeral pot in an Egyptian tomb site dating to between 4,495 and 4,880 years ago.

Four-fifths of the genome showed links to North Africa and the region around Egypt. But a fifth of the genome showed links to the area in the Middle East between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, known as the Fertile Crescent, where Mesopotamian civilization flourished.

"The finding is highly significant" because it "is the first direct evidence of what has been hinted at" in prior work," said Daniel Antoine, curator of Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum.

Earlier archeological evidence has shown trade links between Egypt and Mesopotamia, as well as similarities in pottery-making techniques and pictorial writing systems. While resemblances in dental structures suggested possible ancestral links, the new study clarifies the genetic ties.

The Nile River is "likely to have acted as an ancient superhighway, facilitating the movement of not only cultures and ideas, but people," said Antoine, who was not involved in the study.

The skeleton was found in an Egyptian tomb complex at the archaeological site of Nuwayrat, inside a chamber carved out from a rocky hillside. An analysis of wear and tear on the skeleton - and the presence of arthritis in specific joints - indicates the man was likely in his 60s and may have worked as a potter, said co-author and bioarchaeologist Joel Irish of Liverpool John Moores University.

The man lived just before or near the start of ancient Egypt's Old Kingdom, when Upper and Lower Egypt were unified as one state, leading to a period of relative political stability and cultural innovation, including the construction of the Giza pyramids.

"This is the time that centralized power allowed the formation of ancient Egypt as we know it," said co-author Linus Girdland-Flink, a paleogeneticist at the University of Aberdeen.

At approximately the same time, Sumerian city-states took root in Mesopotamia and cuneiform emerged as a writing system.

Researchers said analysis of other ancient DNA samples is needed to obtain a clearer picture of the extent and timing of movements between the two cultural centers.