The study deals with China's soft power and diplomacy in the Middle East, and it focuses specifically on the tools and foundations of China's soft diplomacy and how it achieves its goals in the region in addition to its challenges in the region. In this regard, the study also focuses on the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative and its soft foundations and how they serve China’s diplomacy and soft power in the region. The study ends with a set of conclusions, perhaps the most prominent of which is that diplomacy and soft power have become a fundamental pillar of China's foreign policy to achieve its foreign goals and to establish an international system compatible with China's principles. As for the Middle East, China has established a poli

The arrival of Russian President Vladimir Putin to power in the Russian Federation is an important factor in delineating a new approach to Russian policy towards regions that have great strategic importance affecting its national security. Therefore, NATO's progress eastward towards these regions prompts Russia to delineate a new strategy to confront this progress as well as preserving its control in the near neighboring regions represented by the countries of Eastern Europe, especially after the changes that occurred in those regions following the color revolutions that swept the region, such as the first application of this Russian policy in 2014, through the annexation of Crimea, and the latest military operations in Ukraine i

Shallow foundations are usually used for structures with light to moderate loads where the soil underneath can carry them. In some cases, soil strength and/or other properties are not adequate and require improvement using one of the ground improvement techniques. Stone column is one of the common improvement techniques in which a column of stone is installed vertically in clayey soils. Stone columns are usually used to increase soil strength and to accelerate soil consolidation by acting as vertical drains. Many researches have been done to estimate the behavior of the improved soil. However, none of them considered the effect of stone column geometry on the behavior of the circular footing. In this research, finite ele

Vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) is a distinctive form of Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET) that has attracted increasing research attention recently. The purpose of this study is to comprehensively investigate the elements constituting a VANET system and to address several challenges that have to be overcome to enable a reliable wireless communications within a vehicular environment. Furthermore, the study undertakes a survey of the taxonomy of existing VANET routing protocols, with particular emphasis on the strengths and limitations of these protocols in order to help solve VANET routing issues. Moreover, as mobile users demand constant network access regardless of their location, this study seeks to evaluate various mobility models for vehi

One wide-ranging category of open source data is that referring to geospatial information web sites. Despite the advantages of such open source data, including ease of access and cost free data, there is a potential issue of its quality. This article tests the horizontal positional accuracy and possible integration of four web-derived geospatial datasets: OpenStreetMap (OSM), Google Map, Google Earth and Wikimapia. The evaluation was achieved by combining the tested information with reference field survey data for fifty road intersections in Baghdad, Iraq. The results indicate that the free geospatial data can be used to enhance authoritative maps especially small scale maps.

Cloud computing represents the most important shift in computing and information technology (IT). However, security and privacy remain the main obstacles to its widespread adoption. In this research we will review the security and privacy challenges that affect critical data in cloud computing and identify solutions that are used to address these challenges. Some questions that need answers are: (a) User access management, (b) Protect privacy of sensitive data, (c) Identity anonymity to protect the Identity of user and data file. To answer these questions, a systematic literature review was conducted and structured interview with several security experts working on cloud computing security to investigate the main objectives of propo

A quadruped (four-legged) robot locomotion has the potential ability for using in different applications such as walking over soft and rough terrains and to grantee the mobility and flexibility. In general, quadruped robots have three main periodic gaits:  creeping gait, running gait and galloping gait. The main problem of the quadruped robot during walking is the needing to be statically stable for slow gaits such as creeping gait. The statically stable walking as a condition depends on the stability margins that calculated particularly for this gait. In this paper, the creeping gait sequence analysis of each leg step during the swing and fixed phases has been carried out. The calculation of the minimum stability margins depends up

Magneto-rheological (MR) Valve is one of the devices generally used to control the speed of Hydraulic actuator using MR fluid. The performance of valve depends on the magnetic circuit design. Present study deals with a new design of MR valve. The finite element analysis is carried out on this valve to optimize its design. The design of the magnetic circuit is accomplished by magnetic finite element software such as Finite Element Method Magnetic (FEMM). The Model dimensions of MR valve, material properties and the circuit properties of valve coil are taken into account. The results of analysis are presented in terms of magnetic strength and magnetic flux density. The valve can be operated with variable flow rate by varying the current. It i