This study examines the contribution of financial development to environmental degradation in Saudi Arabia in the period from 1971 to 2016, controlling the model for globalization and electricity consumption. The autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) and vector error correction methods (VECM) are applied to the long-run and causal relationship, respectively. Empirical results indicate that financial development contributes to CO emissions and degrades environmental quality. The results also show that the role of globalization in environmental degradation is insignificant and that electricity consumption is the main culprit behind the growing CO emissions in Saudi Arabia. In addition, bidirectional causality exists between globalization and CO emissions in the long run, and financial development and CO emissions Granger-cause each other. Insights from the study help policymakers to understand the roles of financial development and globalization in environmental degradation and to comply with global mandate for the reduction of CO emissions.

The aim of this work focuses on the relationship among the Dark Triad (psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism), perceptions of organizational politics, political skills, and counterproductive work behavior. This study empirically tests the mediating role of perceptions of organizational politics in the relationship between the Dark Triad and counterproductive work behavior. Furthermore, the study investigates the moderating role of political skills in strengthening the link between the Dark Triad and the perceptions of organizational politics. A sample of 149 participants was randomly selected. To analyze the data of the present work, we employed a structural equation model using partial least square and PROCESS. From empirical findings, we imply an inference that perception of organizational politics partially mediates the Dark Triad's influence on the counterproductive work behavior. Moreover, the results identify the moderating role of political skills in strengthening the link between the Dark Triad and the perceptions of organizational politics. Empirical findings suggest important policy implications for the hospitality industry.

This study aims to investigate the nexus between financial instability and CO emissions within the multivariate framework in Saudi Arabia's economy over 1971-2016. Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model is used to estimate long-run dynamics followed by Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) to detect the direction of causality. The result of the study reveals that financial instability has an insignificant impact on CO emissions. However, electricity consumption has an adverse impact on environmental quality by producing a huge amount of CO emissions in the atmosphere. The coefficients of oil and non-oil GDPs also suggest that both oil and non-oil GDPs contribute to producing a massive amount of CO emissions. Bi-directional causality is observed among all the core variables of the study. Moreover, the reliability and validity are confirmed by applying several diagnostic tests. This study provides novel findings which not only help to advance the existing literature but can be a particular interest to the country's policymakers regarding financial sector and its role in environmental degradation.

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Background: As a control strategy of industrial robots, sliding mode control has the advantages of fast response and simple physical implementation, but it still has the problems of chattering and low tracking accuracy caused by chattering. This paper proposes a new sliding mode control strategy for the application of industrial robot control, which effectively solves these problems. Methods: In this paper, a deep deterministic policy gradient–nonlinear nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode control (DDPG–NNFTSMC) strategy is proposed for industrial robot control. In order to improve the tracking control accuracy and anti-interference ability, DDPG is used to approach the uncertainties of the system in real time, which ensures the robustness of the system in various uncertain environments. Lyapunov function is used to prove the stability and finite time convergence of the system. Compared with the nonsingular terminal sliding mode control (NTSMC), the time to reach the equilibrium point is shorter. With the help of MATLAB/Simulink, the tracking accuracy and control effects are compared with traditional terminal sliding mode control (TSMC), NTSMC and radial basis function–sliding mode control (RBF–SMC), the results showed that it had the advantages of nonsingularity, finite time convergence, small tracking error. The motion accuracy and anti-interference ability of the uncertain manipulator system was further improved, and the chattering problem of the system in the motion process is effectively eliminated.