The Linkage between Oil and Non-Oil GDP in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s major producers of oil. The Saudi Government has launched its vision for the coming decade: Saudi Vision 2030 (also known as 2030 Vision). Saudi Vision 2030 aims to diversify economic income and be independent of oil revenue. The focus of Saudi Vision 2030 is increasing the role of the non-oil GDP in the economy. In this study, I tried to examine the link between oil and non-oil GDP in Saudi Arabia. I used autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) cointegration, the most common tool used to examine linkages among variables. My ARDL results confirm the long-term cointegration between non-oil GDP and oil rent, thus implying that oil rent-seeking strategies still exist in Saudi Arabia. The short-term dynamics confirmed the impact of oil rent over the non-oil GDP. The ARDL results led to analyses of asymmetric effects. The NARDL model estimated and confirmed the symmetric effect of the oil rent on non-oil GDP. These results demonstrate the challenges in diversifying Saudi Arabia’s income.

Symmetry in Emotional and Visual Similarity between Neutral and Negative Faces

Is Mr. Hyde more similar to his alter ego Dr. Jekyll, because of their physical identity, or to Jack the Ripper, because both evoke fear and loathing? The relative weight of emotional and visual dimensions in similarity judgements is still unclear. We expected an asymmetric effect of these dimensions on similarity perception, such that faces that express the same or similar feeling are judged as more similar than different emotional expressions of same person. We selected 10 male faces with different expressions. Each face posed one neutral expression and one emotional expression (five disgust, five fear). We paired these expressions, resulting in 190 pairs, varying either in emotional expressions, physical identity, or both. Twenty healthy participants rated the similarity of paired faces on a 7-point scale. We report a symmetric effect of emotional expression and identity on similarity judgements, suggesting that people may perceive Mr. Hyde to be just as similar to Dr. Jekyll (identity) as to Jack the Ripper (emotion). We also observed that emotional mismatch decreased perceived similarity, suggesting that emotions play a prominent role in similarity judgements. From an evolutionary perspective, poor discrimination between emotional stimuli might endanger the individual.

Symmetry in emotional and visual similarity between neutral and negative faces

Is Mr Hyde more similar to his alter ego Dr Jekyll, because of their physical identity, or to Jack the Ripper, because both evoke fear and loathing? The relative weight of emotional and visual dimensions in similarity judgements is still unclear. We expected an asymmetric effect of these dimensions on similarity perception, such that faces that express the same or similar feeling are judged as more similar than different emotional expressions of same person. We selected 10 male faces posing different expressions. Each male posed one neutral expression and one emotional expression (5 disgust, 5 fear). We paired these expressions, resulting in 190 pairs, which differed either in emotional expressions, physical identity, or both. Twenty healthy participants rated the similarity of paired faces on a 7-points scale. We report a symmetric effect of emotional expression and identity on similarity judgements, suggesting that people may perceive Mr Hyde to be just as similar to Dr Jekyll (identity) as to Jack the Ripper (emotion). We also observed that emotional mismatch decreased perceived similarity, suggesting that emotions play a prominent role in similarity judgements. From an evolutionary perspective, poor discrimination between emotional stimuli may not be advantageous to the individual.

Natural Resource Rents-Capital Flight Nexus in Selected ECOWAS Countries: Evidence from Non-Linear ARDL Approach

The challenge of capital flight in the ECOWAS sub-region is worrisome. Huge revenue from natural resources also contributes to the relocation of available resources necessary for the development of the region. The study identifies the revenue from natural resources as a key driver of capital flight in the region. Hence, this study analyzed the effect of natural resource rents on capital flight in ECOWAS countries accounting for the role of asymmetry. Also, the study employed the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model to account for short-run and long-run asymmetries. The results revealed the presence of asymmetry in five countries, while two countries displayed symmetric effects. It also showed that the symmetric effect of natural resource rents on capital flight is weak for Guinea and Nigeria in the short-run while the long-run effect is not more pronounced for Nigeria. In the case of asymmetric effect, natural resource rents amplified capital flight in Cape Verde and Sierra Leone. Further evidence shows that the non-linearity of natural resource rents does not encourage capital flight in Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, and Ghana. Hence, the countries should promote transparency and accountability in the management of proceeds from natural resources to enhance development in the region.

Evaluating the Response of Global Column Resistance to a Large Volcanic Eruption by an Aerosol-Coupled Chemistry Climate Model

Global electric circuits could be the key link between space weather and lower atmosphere climate. It has been suggested that the ultrafine erosol layer in the middle to upper stratosphere could greatly contribute to local column resistance and return current density. In previous work by Tinsley, Zhou, and Plemmons (Atmos. Res., 2006, 79 (3–4), 266–295), the artificial ultrafine layer was addressed and caused a significant symmetric effect on column resistance at high latitudes. In this work, we use an updated erosol coupled chemistry-climate model to establish a new global electric circuit model. The results show that the ultrafine aerosol layer exits the middle stratosphere, but due to the Brewer-Dobson circulation, there are significant seasonal variations in the ion loss due to variations in the ultrafine aerosol layer. In the winter hemisphere in the high latitude region, the column resistance will consequently be higher than that in the summer hemisphere. With an ultrafine aerosol layer in the decreasing phase of solar activity, the column resistance would be more sensitive to fluctuations in the low-energy electron precipitation (LEE) and middle-energy electron precipitation (MEE) particle fluxes.

Do Political Events Affect Stock Return Volatility On Indonesian Stock Exchange

This study has the purpose to examine the influence of political events on the volatility of stocks traded on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX). Furthermore, this study also sees whether such political events also influence the shares that have direct links with the participants in presidential elections. The political event that was examined was the Indonesian Presidential Election held in 2014. We use the daily data on the shares of all companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) in 2014. Analysis and hypothesis testing were performed using the GARCH (Generalized Auto Regressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity) estimation and its derivatives namely EGARCH (Exponential GARCH) and TARCH (Threshold GARCH). This study findings that the 2014 Presidential Election asymmetrically affected stock return volatility on IDX and contrary to the leverage effect, which means that positive shocks (good news) have better influence than negative shocks (bad news). Out of all listed companies that have direct links with participants in the presidential election, 3 companies have their stock volatility affected by this Presidential Election; some with symmetric effect and some others with asymmetric effect.

Rubber Surface Change and Static Charging under Periodic Stress

Rubber materials play an important role in robotics, due to their sensing and actuating abilities, that are exploited in soft smart materials endowed with shape-adaptive and electroadhesive properties. The application of an electric field produces non-linear deformation that has been extensively modelled, but is not understood at the molecular level. The symmetric effect (the production of an electric field due to rubber deformation) was recently discovered and explained as follows: rubber surface chemical composition and adsorptive properties change during rubber deformation, allowing the surface to exchange charge with the atmosphere. The present work describes the complex surface morphology and microchemistry of tubing made from vulcanized natural rubber, showing that it is rough and made from two domain types: stiffer elevations containing Br or Al (depending on the sample used) and O, that rise above an elastic base that is exempt of elements other than C and H. The surface area fraction occupied by the elastic base is higher in the strained rubber than when it is relaxed. Electrostatic potential on rubber surfaces was measured as a function of the stretching frequency, using Kelvin electrodes and showing frequency-dependent potential variation. This is explained considering charge exchange between the atmosphere and rubber surface, mediated by water vapor adsorbed in the stretched rubber and trapped when it relaxes.

On the existence of sonority-driven stress in Gujarati

This paper presents evidence against the existence of sonority-driven stress in Gujarati. Gujarati is one of the clearest and most revealing cases of sonority-driven stress with distinctions among peripheral vowels. A production experiment was performed to determine the accuracy of the claim that [a] attracts stress away from the default position. Of the five types of phonetic evidence examined, only F1 provides clear evidence for stress, revealing stress to be consistently penultimate, and not sonority-driven. As Gujarati is one of the core cases of sonority-driven stress, this finding challenges the claim that it exists. However, this paper does not exclude the possibility that stress may avoid schwa (or central vowels), as reported for several languages. Theoretical and methodological implications are discussed, particularly for theories that have a ‘symmetric effect’ and for descriptions that are impressionistic.

Evaluation of the symmetric effect of antagonists in the floral morphs of the distylic shrub Bouvardia ternifolia: a field study

<p><strong>Background:</strong> Heterostyly is a genetic polymorphism characterized by a system of sporophyte auto-incompatibility in which the plant populations show two (distyly) or three (tristyly) floral morphs. This reproductive system is known as a promoter of cross-pollination, assuming similar reproductive success between morphs.</p><p><strong>Hyphothesis:</strong> For this assumption to take place, the pollinators must respond in a similar manner to attraction floral traits in both morphs, maintaining a symmetric flow of pollen. We hypothesize that floral damage by antagonists should correspond to similarities or differences in atractiveness among floral morphs.</p><p><strong>Studied species:</strong> We tested this hypothesis in the distylous shrub <em>Bouvardia ternifolia</em> (Rubiaceae).</p><p><strong>Methods:</strong> we evaluated the magnitude of the nectar theft, foliar herbivory, and seed predation by assessing individual plants of both floral morphs throughout their flowering period (June-July 2015) under natural conditions. At the end of the flowering season, we quantified fruit and seed production.</p><p><strong>Results:</strong> The intensity of the herbivore and nectar thieves in this distylous population is similar between morphs, as well as the size of their floral displays. The number of seeds and fruits produced was also similar between morphs.</p><strong>Conclusions:</strong> Our study showed that selection pressures imposed by antagonists were similar to both floral morphs in the studied population of <em>Bouvardia ternifolia</em>.