Keyword Research For Surge Protector Rv

This work has proposed an innovative technical approach in enhancing the performance of surge arresters to guard the MV transformers towards indirect lightning overvoltages. More typically than not, surge arresters fail after experiencing a thermal runaway as a end result of receiving larger energy than their thermal vitality absorption limit. An simple approach to stop such failures is to utilize a higher rating surge arrester with a desired vitality class, nevertheless, it imposes further prices to the system operator. In this paper, an inductor has been used as a filtering device to restrict the energy pushed into the surge arrester. By controlling the vitality of a surge arrester, the failure is prevented, and a decrease score surge arrester can be utilized as a substitute of the high rating expensive surge arresters.

The filters that have been used to regulate the energy levels are a hundred μH, 250 μH, 500 μH, and 1 mH inductors put in earlier than the surge arrester. Besides contemplating the performance of the proposed filtered surge arrester configuration, the impacts of the spark gap on the efficiency of this configuration have also been studied. An energy-controlled swap has been proposed to monitor the thermal vitality of the surge arrester and to simulate the failure. Results show the effectiveness of equipping surge arresters with an inductor-based filter.

For occasion, equipping a 1 mH filter resulted in a substantial enhancement within the protecting performance of a 12 kV rating surge arrester (i.e., SA-12b). A non-filtered surge arrester SA-12b may only protect the MV transformer in opposition to 100 kV lightning impulses, while a 1 mH filtered surge arrester SA-12b offers correct safety in opposition to 200 kV lightning impulses. Moreover, the surge arrester SA-42b can only lower the overvoltage rigidity to ninety eight.7 kV, whereas a 1 mH filtered surge arrester SA-12b keeps the overvoltage pressure beneath 28.2 kV.

It has also been shown that the spark hole installed in collection with the surge arrester could assist in decreasing the absorbed power by the surge arrester only barely. In inner modifications, the microstructure and electrical properties of surge arresters are optimized to resist different overvoltage situations . When a standard surge arrester is used for safeguarding MV transformers, a number of characteristics must be taken into consideration to prevent undesirable failures or returning to regular working situation after absorbing surge vitality . Among all, the thermal vitality absorption limit performs a vital position in guaranteeing the healthy operation of the surge arrester whereas absorbing surge power. The authors of offered sufficient info on deciding on the surge arresters for residential areas. In a distribution network, the location of surge arresters is a vital problem , where putting in too many surge arresters will increase the likelihood of surge arrester failure, and consequently undesirable outages might occur .

One approach is to decrease the number of surge arresters within the network , whereas strengthening the surge arrester and enhancing its efficiency towards lightning overvoltages may be another various. However, on this work, the thermal power absorption restrict was not thoroughly investigated. Several other combinations of the spark gap and surge arresters have been studied to reinforce the protection quality.

In , consultants advised putting in surge arresters at both the MV and LV terminals, which will impose additional prices to the system operator. Figure 28 compares the absorbed energy by completely different configurations of surge arresters goals at offering proper protection for MV transformers towards the 200 lightning impulse. Note that the surge arrester SA-42b has absorbed 228.1 kJ of power to maintain the overvoltage degree under the specified voltage. This is an unimaginable achievement by which the system operators can save their gear against lightning overvoltages with a lower rating surge arresters, and consequently save a fantastic sum of money.

Preventing the medium voltage transformer fault by protecting transformers against indirect lightning strikes plays an important position in enhancing the continual service to electrical energy customers. Surge arresters, if chosen properly, are efficient units in providing enough protection for MV transformers in opposition to transient overvoltage impulses while preventing undesirable service interruptions. However, in comparison with different protecting units such because the spark hole, their prices are relatively high. The higher the surge arrester ranking and power absorption capability are, the higher the costs go. This paper proposes an inductor-based filter to limit the vitality pushed into the surge arrester, and consequently to stop any undesirable failure.

An energy-controlled change is proposed to simulate the fault of the surge arrester. Furthermore, these surge arresters are equipped with different filter sizes of 100 μH, 250 μH, 500 μH, and 1 mH. Therefore, such configurations not solely improve the protective capability of surge arrester, but additionally cut back the planning and working costs of MV networks. In this part, first we validate the functionality of the proposed energy-controlled change, which is used to mannequin the surge arrester's fault situation due to absorbing vitality greater than the thermal vitality absorption restrict. Then, a quantity of case research are carried out to see the potential of filtered surge arrester compared with the traditional surge arrester and collection connection of surge arrester and spark hole.

However, before validating the model and performing profound analyses, the lightning impulses must be generated. Table 2 presents the optimum parameters of the double exponential mannequin , obtained by solving –. Most indirect lightning strikes have an overvoltage amplitude of less than 300 kV .

Table 2 can be used as a fast source for interested readers to generate the desired indirect lightning impulses. Therefore, the proposed filter, by boosting the efficiency of surge arresters, prolongs its lifetime by limiting the vitality pushed into the surge arrester and stopping any unwanted failure. Above all, installing low rating surge arresters instead of excessive score surge arresters ends in considerable financial savings for the system operator. Figure 31a–f offers a comparison among the safety mechanisms of the filtered surge arrester and joint filtered surge arrester and spark gap against a 200 kV lightning impulse.

In this figure, the stable curves current the measurements made at the presence of filtered surge arresters, while the dashed curves stand for the measurements made on the presence of a filtered surge arrester and spark gap. Note that Figure 31f presents the protection mechanisms of protecting units with standard (non-filtered) surge arrester SA-42b. However, the spark has a small influence on reducing the absorbed power by surge arrester that increases the functionality margin against larger lightning impulses, though negligible.

As an instance, in Figure 31a, the energy pushed into the surge arrester when no spark gap is taken into account is ~59.33 kJ, while for the case with the spark gap, the power is decreased to ~57.65 kJ, which reveals 2.83% enhancement. Moreover, for lower ranking surge arresters connected with spark gaps, the working time is a bit less than the time required by using solely surge arresters (see Figure 31a–c). Such a state of affairs just isn't valid for greater score surge arresters (see Figure 31d–f).

Table 3 presents the impacts of contemplating totally different filter sizes on the performance of surge arresters in opposition to indirect lightning overvoltages. This desk accommodates the very best degree of lightning impulses, among the many impulses listed in Table 2, against which the surge arrester supplies correct protection for MV transformers. From Table 3, it can be seen that by contemplating a 1 mH inductor to SA-12a, its performance is enhanced such that it provides similar protection as the non-filtered surge arresters SA-12b, SA-18b, and SA-30a. By considering a 1 mH filter for SA-12b, a 100 percent enhancement in its protecting performance is achieved. In different phrases, as an alternative of utilizing an costly class-b surge arrester with an energy class-b forty two kV ranking surge arrester, a a lot lower score surge arrester with the same power class (i.e., SA-12b) can be utilized.

First, the surge arrester SA-12a, which is the bottom ranking surge arrester with power class a is taken into account. Figure 24 a–d presents the efficiency of filtered surge arrester SA-12a beneath the 100 kV oblique lightning impulse at the presence of the aforementioned inductors. However, because the energy pushed into the surge arrester is larger than the thermal absorption restrict, a failure, and consequently, an interruption occurs. Moreover, through the use of the 100 μH inductor, it takes ~43 μs until the vitality pushed into the surge arrester passes the thermal absorption restrict , while for the case without the inductor, the time to failure is ~6.1 μs.

Similarly, by rising the inductor dimension in Figure 24b,c, the time to failure, in contrast with Figure 24a, is elevated. Eventually, as depicted in Figure 24d, by using an applicable filter, i.e., 1 mH, the surge arrester SA-12a properly protects the MV transformer against the one hundred kV lightning impulse. That is, by rising the filter size, the absorbed vitality is lowered till which the filtered surge arrester begins functioning correctly and guarantees the continual service to the electrical energy shoppers. The di/dt of the surge arrester underneath the conventional situation, Figure 24d, is ~0.03 kA/μs. As could be seen from this determine, by utilizing a conventional surge arrester , a voltage sag happens firstly of lightning.

After attenuating the voltage to ~30 kV, the surge arrester, due to absorbing more energy than its thermal absorption limit, is pushed into a failure and acts as a brief circuit. Then, though even the overvoltage peak is much lower than one hundred twenty five kV (~66 kV), all in all, the surge arrester isn't suitable for guaranteeing a steady service to customers. On the opposite hand, it can be seen that when the surge arrester is provided with an inductor, this newly fashioned filtered surge arrester offers proper safety towards the a hundred twenty five kV lightning surge. That is, first, the voltage sag is eliminated, and second, there shall be no interruption in the supply service. Moreover, it may be deduced that by rising the size of the filter, the peaks of the measured voltages are decreased, whereas the working times of surge arrester are increased. For instance, by rising the inductor size from 100 μH to 250 μH, the height voltage is decreased from 28.seventy two kV to 27.60 kV, while the working time is elevated from ~195 μs to ~243 μs.

This condition is essentially the most correct design for a collection connection of a surge arrester and a spark gap, where the spark hole supplies the first protection, and after that, the surge arrester prevents any unwanted interruption. Figure 20 presents the proper protection of MV transformers under the one hundred fifty kV lightning impulse by connecting surge arresters SA-24b with the spark hole. The spark gap is triggered at level when the voltage reached to about 149 kV in less than zero.82 μs. Then, the voltage drops quickly to ~134 kV by discharging present through the protecting gadgets. At level , the surge arrester begins its lively role in defending the transformer, and as could be seen, the absorbed power reaches to about 161 kJ, which is beneath the utmost absorption limit for this surge arrester .

Consequently, no service interruption occurs, while on this case, the di/dt is about 9.8 kA/μs. Figure 15 presents the performance of the 36 kV score surge arresters under failure condition. In practice, typically spark gaps are used to guard the transformers in MV networks in opposition to lightning impulses . Although spark gaps are somewhat cheap protective devices, their operation yields a service interruption as a result of voltage chop and such voltage chopping imposes steep voltage stress across the transformer terminal . Besides, transients may also happen as a result of energization of the transformer after the observe current interruption as a result of spark hole operation. On the other hand, surge arresters, by their charming nonlinear habits in addition to surge energy capabilities, can present enough safety towards lightning impulses whereas stopping any unwanted service interruption .

However, utilizing a surge arrester as the protecting gadget may not at all times protect the MV transformers in opposition to lightning . A report by the Cigre Study Committee A2.37 on the failure rate of MV transformers lists the failure rate of surge arrester-protected transformers due to lightning as ~3% . This case investigates the influence of a joint filtered surge arrester and spark hole on the safety in opposition to oblique lightning impulses. It is worth mentioning that the same situations introduced in Case 2 (see Section three.three.2) are additionally legitimate for this case.

However, the focus of this case is to show the impression of the spark gap on enhancing the overvoltage stress and absorbed vitality by surge arrester, in comparison with Case three (see Section three.3.3). To this finish, the performances of surge arresters presented in Figure 26 are studied on the presence of a joint filtered surge arrester and spark gap. Figure 26 reveals a comparability amongst all the surge arresters that may provide proper protection against the 200 kV lightning impulse. As may be seen from this figure, the surge arresters with lower rankings decrease the overvoltage amplitude to a larger extent than the upper score surge arresters. For instance, the 1 mH filtered SA-12b lowers down the overvoltage stress at the MV terminal of the transformer to about 26.9 kV , which is ~85.8% lower than the peak voltage stage at the presence of 100 μH filtered SA-36b.

However, by utilizing the lower score filtered surge arresters, it takes more time to soak up the surplus energy and attenuate the overvoltage. As an occasion, in case of utilizing the a hundred μH filtered SA-36b, it only takes ~380 μs to eliminate the overvoltage stress, while for the 1 mH filtered SA-12b, it takes ~505 μs. Furthermore, this figure reveals that the only conventional surge arrester (i.e., non-filtered surge arrester) that can protect the MV transformer against 200 kV lightning impulse is the SA-42b. This surge arrester, firstly of lightning, does not work properly, and a voltage sag with an amplitude of 174.4 kV is reached the MV terminal of the transformer.

This downside of surge arrester SA-42b could be addressed by using a a hundred μH filter , whereas, from Table three, it can be seen that the correct protection towards lightning amplitudes is enhanced by 50 kV . As an instance, the residual voltage of SA-42b is ninety eight.7 kV, while a 500 μH filtered surge arrester SA-18b supplies a residual voltage of 35.three kV . However, for greater overvoltage amplitudes, it does not have a optimistic effect on providing higher protection for the transformer. Therefore, it's required to find a higher method to control the input vitality pushed right into a surge arrester and thereby prolong its lifetime. Figure 12 exhibits that just like the 12 kV surge arresters, surge arresters SA-18a and SA-18b expertise failures underneath the a hundred kV and a hundred twenty five kV lightning impulses, respectively. However, in contrast with Figure eleven, the times to failure are a bit longer, which is due to greater energy absorption ranges of 18 kV rating surge arresters .

Therefore, although the surge arresters SA-18a and SA-18b, compared with the surge arrester SA-12a and SA-12b, have larger vitality absorption capability, their performance towards lightning overvoltages is comparable. Both the class-a surge arresters failed in opposition to a one hundred kV lightning impulse, while both the class-b surge arresters could not present correct protection towards a one hundred twenty five kV lightning impulse. It should be noted that the spark gap can play an essential function through the failure of the surge arrester. Each surge arrester, if not deteriorated beneath overvoltage stress, wants approximately forty five to 60 min for cooling down , and virtually it behaves as a brief circuit.

Therefore, the spark hole can protect the MV transformers in opposition to the lightning impulses during this cooling down period, although by interrupting the continual service to the electrical energy customers. Figure 31f reveals the mechanism of the non-filtered surge arrester and spark hole in opposition to the 200 kV lightning impulse. Unlike Figure 31a–e, during which at the presence of the filtered surge arresters , no voltage sag was occurring , in Figure 31f, and at the presence of non-filtered surge arrester SA-42b, voltage sag is noticed. To see this phenomenon extra clearly, Figure 32 presents the performance of SA-42b for the primary 5 μs of lightning impulse. As could be seen from this determine, the spark gap is triggered at ~0.5 μs after the lightning strike, and this ends in even sharper voltage sag than the case with solely surge arrester. Although triggering the spark gap decreases the power pushed into the surge arrester , the overvoltage tendencies for each safety approaches (i.e., surge arrester and joint surge arrester and spark gap) after ~14 μs are comparable .

In order to check the efficiency of joint surge arrester and spark gap safety in opposition to lightning overvoltages, the right operation of such mixture is investigated. The first class supplies correct protection for transformers only underneath the a hundred kV lightning impulse. Figure 14 presents the first measurements of the 30 kV score surge arresters experiencing failures. Figure 13 presents the performance of the 24 kV ranking surge arresters beneath failure condition.

As could be seen in Figure 13b, surge arrester SA-24b provides correct protection for the MV transformers under the a hundred kV, one hundred twenty five kV, and a hundred and fifty kV lightning impulses, and the failure occurs under the one hundred seventy five kV lightning impulse. Therefore, its efficiency is much better than the efficiency of previous surge arresters in the same energy class, i.e., surge arresters SA-12b and SA-18b . However, the failure of surge arrester SA-24a, like earlier type-a surge arresters (i.e., SA-12a and SA-18a in Figure 11a and Figure 12a, respectively), happens underneath the 100 kV lightning impulse. The fault for the surge arrester SA-24a occurs after ~17.9 μs, which takes eleven.8 μs and 7.9 μs longer than the failure occurrence for surge arresters SA-12a and SA-18a, respectively. The performance of the forty two kV ranking surge arrester, namely, SA-42b, has been presented in Figure eight. However, when the 250 kV lightning impulse is applied, after ~28 μs, a failure occurs.

Moreover, it can be seen from Figure eight that by increasing the utilized impulse, the time to fault is decreased while the overvoltage stress is increased. To perform in-depth analyses on the protecting performances of surge arresters towards overvoltage surges, a number of case studies are performed. In this work, and so as to achieve the aforementioned objectives, the following case research are carried out. Table 3 can be used as a lookup table for a system operator for choosing the right surge arrester in addition to to adjust the inductor dimension aiming at acquiring the required safety for the MV transformers. For instance, if the operator decides to guard the MV transformer against a 200 kV lightning impulse, Table 3 exhibits a quantity of appropriate designs. To see what's the distinction among these totally different configurations, the overvoltage stress on the MV terminal of the transformer and the absorbed vitality by surge arresters are in contrast.

Lira et al. proposed two on-line monitoring strategies based mostly on feature extraction of the harmonic content of the whole leakage current. These do not require separation of the resistive com- ponents thus eliminating the need for voltage measurements. From the extracted features, methodology one builds a characteristic database that relates the harmonic parts to the arrester working standing. Then the database is utilized in training of a situation classification system based mostly on artificial neural networks .

Method two organizes the options into patterns to be utilized to the classification system based on self-organizing maps . Both methods claim an accuracy of 98\% for proper prediction. Our electronics provider database is a comprehensive record of the key suppliers, producers, wholesalers, trading companies in the electronics business. Import electrical products from our verified China suppliers with aggressive costs.

Amongst the big selection of products for sale alternative, Surge Power Protector is likely certainly one of the sizzling objects. Design engineers or consumers would possibly need to take a glance at varied Surge Power Protector manufacturing unit & producers, who provide lots of associated decisions such as surge protector, surge arrester and surge safety. You can also customise Surge Power Protector orders from our OEM/ODM manufacturers.

How Many States Are In Saudi Arabia

The good news is that Saudi institutional reforms are slowly catching up to the crown prince's headlines. An IPO of Aramco generated headlines intended to signal to capital markets that Saudi Arabia would be serious about economic liberalization. As a public relations strategy, perhaps even with the failure to deliver on the listing, Saudi Arabia has been successful in getting the financial world's attention. Subsequent high-profile arrests of business executives, members of the royal family, religious leaders, and women's rights activists have also generated less welcome media scrutiny while displaying the very severe limits of individual and corporate rights in the kingdom. Saudi Arabia's young leadership has established a cinematic and performative strategy, inviting the world to watch it painfully experiment in major social and economic restructuring.

Repression of the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly intensified. Virtually all known Saudi Arabian human rights defenders inside the country were detained or imprisoned at the end of the year. Grossly unfair trials continued before the Specialized Criminal Court and other courts. Courts resorted extensively to the death penalty and people were executed for a wide range of crimes. Migrant workers were even more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation because of the pandemic, and thousands were arbitrarily detained in dire conditions, leading to an unknown number of deaths. Allegations of torture by police and prison officials are common, and access to prisoners by independent human rights and legal organizations is extremely limited.

In March 2019, international media published leaked prison medical records indicating that a number of political prisoners suffered from cuts, bruises, burns, and malnutrition. Detained women's rights activists were reportedly given electric shocks, whipped, beaten, sexually abused, and threatened with rape. The family of Loujain al-Hathloul stated she had been offered freedom on the condition that she recant her torture allegations, but she refused. The Financial Sector Development Program identifies some surprising weaknesses in the Saudi economy, the largest of the Middle East.

How Many States Are There In Saudi Arabia Selling insurance to citizens and foreigners will be a big business and the government plans to enforce its mandatory insurance coverage for drivers. Currently, Jadwa reports, from a national insurer's estimates, only 55 percent of vehicles in the kingdom are insured against accidents. Health insurance is also mandatory, though government hospitals provide basic coverage to all citizens.

The expansion of the financial sector will provide benefits to Saudi Arabia's private sector growth, but it also provides opportunities for regional investors and neighboring states. The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in their newly announced strategic partnership have prioritized shared access to insurance markets and coverage for their populations. Some 30 women served in the last parliament, and a female deputy speaker was appointed in October 2020. Women secured about 1 percent of the seats in the 2015 municipal council elections. Shiites reportedly hold a small number of Majlis al-Shura seats and many municipal council seats in Shiite-majority areas.

Following recognition in 1931, the United States and Saudi Arabia established full diplomatic relations, with exchange of credentials and the first U.S. ambassadorial posting to Jeddah, in 1940. Saudi Arabia's unique role in the Arab and Islamic worlds, its holding of the world's second largest reserves of oil, and its strategic location all play a role in the long-standing bilateral relationship between the Kingdom and the United States. The United States and Saudi Arabia have a common interest in preserving the stability, security, and prosperity of the Gulf region and consult closely on a wide range of regional and global issues. Saudi Arabia plays an important role in working toward a peaceful and prosperous future for the region and is a strong partner in security and counterterrorism efforts and in military, diplomatic, and financial cooperation. Its forces work closely with U.S. military and law enforcement bodies to safeguard both countries' national security interests. The United States and Saudi Arabia also enjoy robust cultural and educational ties with some 37,000 Saudi students studying in U.S. colleges and universities and scores of educational and cultural exchange visitors each year.

The United States also provides promising youth and emerging Saudi leaders the opportunity to experience the United States and its institutions through the International Visitor Leadership Program and various other exchange programs. The state's oil revenues make up the vast majority of its financial resources, but these are tightly controlled by the royal family, which uses the same income to support itself. In 2018 and 2019, the state oil company, Saudi Aramco, provided more income and expenditure information in preparation for an initial public offering. However, amid ongoing questions about its relationship with the government, the company opted that December to list shares only on a domestic stock exchange, which entailed less transparency than would be required on a major international exchange. The authorities arbitrarily detained, prosecuted and imprisoned human rights defenders and family members of women's rights activists for their peaceful activities and human rights work, including under the Counter-Terrorism Law and Anti-Cyber Crime Law. By the end of the year, virtually all Saudi Arabian human rights defenders were in detention without charge, or were on trial or serving prison terms.

The sluggish dynamic between institutional reform and attracting investment creates some market uncertainty, but from the government's perspective, time is not on its side. As is the nature of structural economic reforms, the imperative to generate private sector growth continues to be mounting fiscal pressure. The government continues to drive economic growth through its project spending, and consumption patterns are under pressure as structural reforms have gone into effect. This means that the value-added tax, new visa fees on expatriate workers, fees to businesses employing foreigners, and reduced subsidies of electricity and water are making it harder for people to spend extra cash each month to boost growth.

The "expat exodus" in which nearly 800,000 foreign workers have lost jobs and exited the country only exacerbates the decline in consumer spending and confidence. Saudi Arabia is part of the Arabian Peninsula, between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. This includes Iraq and Jordan to the north, Kuwait to the northeast, Oman to the southeast, and Yemen to the south as well as Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates to the east. Saudi Arabia is an Islamic country and all people in Saudi Arabia are Muslim.

Saudi Arabia has the second most proven oil reserves in the world, after Venezuela. Yemen's civil war began in 2014 when Houthi insurgents—Shiite rebels with links to Iran and a history of rising up against the Sunni government—took control of Yemen's capital and largest city, Sana'a, demanding lower fuel prices and a new government. Following failed negotiations, the rebels seized the presidential palace in January 2015, leading President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his government to resign. Beginning in March 2015, a coalition of Gulf states led by Saudi Arabia launched a campaign of economic isolation and air strikes against the Houthi insurgents, with U.S. logistical and intelligence support. The Kingdom's tradition of successful top-down management of evolutionary change contrasts with the failure of revolutionary uprisings and coups d'état in its neighbors to engineer comparable progress. But Saudi Arabia's transformation remains both incomplete and animated by no clearly articulated vision.

But Saudi Arabia now faces so many challenges abroad that it is likely to be extra-cautious at home. The government has taken some steps to combat corruption and recover misappropriated assets, but its opaque methods have raised serious concerns about politicization and lack of due process. The crown prince heads an anticorruption committee, which in 2017 ordered the detention of more than 300 people, many of whom were coerced into turning over billions of dollars in assets to the state.

Bin Salman's campaign has targeted potential rivals within the royal family, leading observers to suggest these crackdowns are meant to consolidate his political and economic control. Major crackdowns and arrests continued in 2020, with 298 government employees being arrested for corruption in March. Another 59 were arrested in October, and over $160 million worth of assets were seized. Saudi Arabia's absolute monarchy restricts almost all political rights and civil liberties. The regime relies on pervasive surveillance, the criminalization of dissent, appeals to sectarianism and ethnicity, and public spending supported by oil revenues to maintain power.

Women and religious minorities face extensive discrimination in law and in practice. Working conditions for the large expatriate labor force are often exploitative. • It highlights the progress that has been made in all 17 areas and describes concrete plans that are either in place or in the planning phase to further the Kingdom's position in each of these areas. However, there is a growing awareness that the future of the country depends on providing women with the necessary opportunities and tools to reach their full potential. Almost a third of Saudi students abroad are women and there are currently more Saudi women attending university in the kingdom than men. More recently, a woman was appointed to head a major bank and another was elected to lead the Saudi stock exchange.

A recent royal decree related to the male guardianship system will make it easier for women to obtain government services. The fact that women do not drive is the subject of intense debate among the Saudi public, the media and the Shura Council. However, it is unfair to dismiss all the advances that women have made until that issue is resolved. In October 2018, one of the country's most prominent journalists, Jamal Khashoggi, was murdered by Saudi agents inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Khashoggi, who criticized the government of bin Salman, had been working as a Washington Post columnist in the United States. Saudi officials blamed rogue intelligence agents, but according to a UN special rapporteur, the evidence suggested the crown prince's involvement.

In December 2019, a Saudi court sentenced five men to death for Khashoggi's murder, and three others received prison sentences; the death sentences were commuted in September 2020. The most senior officials under investigation were acquitted due to a supposed lack of evidence, and bin Salman himself was never officially investigated. Meanwhile, the conflict continues to take a heavy toll on Yemeni civilians, making Yemen the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The UN estimates that 131,000 of the estimated 233,000 deaths in Yemen since 2015 are the result of indirect causes like food insecurity and lack of access health services.

Nearly twenty-five million Yemenis remain in need of assistance, five million are at risk of famine, and a cholera outbreak has affected over one million people. All sides of the conflict are reported to have violated human rights and international humanitarian law. It is unclear how many political prisoners are incarcerated in Saudi prisons. The Saudi government claims the number is zero but human rights activists speak of hundreds. Amnesty International has reported that it suspects there may be around 3,000 political prisoners in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia's first two development plans, covering the 1970s, emphasized infrastructure.

The results were impressive--the total length of paved highways tripled, power generation increased by a multiple of 28, and the capacity of the seaports grew tenfold. Spending on infrastructure declined, but it rose markedly on education, health, and social services. Through 5-year development plans, the government has sought to allocate its petroleum income to transform its relatively undeveloped, oil-based economy into that of a modern industrial state while maintaining the kingdom's traditional Islamic values and customs. Although economic planners have not achieved all their goals, the economy has progressed rapidly.

However, significant population growth has strained the government's ability to finance further improvements in the country's standard of living. Heavy dependence on petroleum revenue continues, but industry and agriculture now account for a larger share of economic activity. The mismatch between the job skills of Saudi graduates and the needs of the private job market at all levels remains the principal obstacle to economic diversification and development; about 4.6 million non-Saudis are employed in the economy. More than two years after a wave of arrests targeted women human rights defenders and supporters, the authorities continued to detain incommunicado Loujain al-Hathloul and Nassima al-Sada for between two to four months at a time. In December, Loujain al-Hathloul was sentenced to five years and eight months in prison, after her case was transferred to the SCC in November.

Several other women activists continued to be detained and on trial before the Criminal Court in Riyadh for their human rights work or expression. The authorities escalated repression of the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, including through a crackdown on online expression and undue restrictions on freedom of expression related to the government's responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. They harassed, arbitrarily detained and prosecuted government critics, human rights defenders, family members of activists and many others. The short-term work ahead will test these legal structures and stretch their purview to include new entities and partnerships that do not yet exist. Higher global oil prices will cushion government spending and create some disincentives to move forward on difficult structural reforms. Political pressure for job creation will grow, particularly as the delicate rebalance from reliance on low wage expatriate workers and Saudization plans unfold.

Pressure to devote government resources to foreign policy objectives in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq, as well as support within the Gulf neighborhood will compete with domestic spending priorities. The long-term trajectory is much less clear to those observing from outside the kingdom, and for local actors on the ground. Add to that a history of resource dependency and cyclical fiscal policy tied to oil pricing and it is very clear that Saudi Arabia's economic transformation will not be immediate. The economy, and by extension the functioning of the state, is dependent on oil revenue and will be for some time to come.

The Aramco IPO idea is important for its recognition that monetizing the single most valuable asset of the state needs to happen sooner rather than later. There is a limited period of time the global market will need so much of this product and it is better to get it out of the ground quickly and sell it at the highest price possible. One immediate path to private sector growth is to expand the financial sector and have more citizens and foreigners actively engaged in financial intermediation – borrowing, lending, and investing at their own risk. A new parallel equity market, Nomu, is meant to build a path from small- and medium-sized enterprise to first listing, to listing on the major Saudi exchange the Tadawul. Today, President Biden announced an end to support for "offensive" operations by the Saudis.

Does it mean an end to the blockade, which is the most important element in the malnourishment of Yemenis? It continues support for Saudi air defenses against missiles and drones, but does it halt support for air strikes on missile batteries? Time works against the Yemeni people, every 10 minutes a Yemeni child under the age of five dies due to the blockade. An urgent international effort, with a new United Nations Security Council resolution, is necessary, and Biden's appointment of a special envoy for Yemen with long experience in the region, Tim Lenderking, is a good step. It is time to stop the carnage in Yemen and stop fueling the arms race in the Middle East.

The IHO capacity building programme seeks to assess and advise on how countries can best meet their international obligations and serve their own best interests by providing appropriate hydrographic and nautical charting services. • SDGs-related activities will proceed hand-in-hand with the implementation of Vision 2030 which has already gathered significant momentum. Much of what Bamieh has said about Saudi involvement in the Reagan administration's foreign intrigues cannot be confirmed and some has been flatly denied by Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington, Prince Bandar bin Sultan. There is no doubt that the Saudi king wields great political power, but Saudi kings have never ruled in a political vacuum; they have always been keen on consensus-building. Initially, this was among relatively few notables but today, the political decision-making process includes a large swath of Saudi society.

There is a cabinet composed of experienced bureaucrats and a consultative Shura Council that has expanded from its original 60 members to 150 members today, including 30 women. It also represents all regions of the country and has several members from the Shia minority. It has become a robust deliberative body that debates issues that were once only discussed in private gatherings. In addition, Saudi Arabia has held several nationwide elections for municipal councils.

Last year, women not only voted but also ran for seats, with about twenty of them winning contests. Academics have faced punishment for criticizing government policies or for other reasons. History professor and women's rights activist Hatoon al-Fassi was arrested in 2018, days after her comments on the crown prince's reforms were publicized. She was provisionally released in May 2019, along with three other activists, but still awaits a trial for illegal contact with foreign media, diplomats, and human rights groups.

In August 2020, academic Abdullah Ibn Ali Basfar was arrested under unclear circumstances. The 1992 Basic Law declares that the Quran and the Sunna are the country's constitution. Islam is the official religion, and all Saudis are required by law to be Muslims. The government prohibits the public practice of any religion other than Islam and restricts the religious practices of Shiites and of those who practice Sufism. The construction of Shiite mosques is constrained through licensing rules and prohibited outside of Eastern Province, where most Shiites live.

Although the government recognizes the right of non-Muslims to worship in private, it does not always respect this right in practice. Foreign military sales case coordination, from concept through closure, is a significant part of USMTM's portfolio and expertise. However, advisors work across the doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel, and facilities spectrum with Saudi general and flag officers at more than 10 locations throughout the Kingdom. When SAAF forces participate with U.S. forces in combat or in training exercises around the world, USMTM is positioned to be the link to U.S. commanders. In the fourth plan ( ), the country's basic infrastructure was viewed as largely complete, but education and training remained areas of concern.

Private enterprise was encouraged, and foreign investment in the form of joint ventures with Saudi public and private companies was welcomed. The private sector became more important, rising to 70% of non-oil GDP by 1987. While still concentrated in trade and commerce, private investment increased in industry, agriculture, banking, and construction companies. These private investments were supported by generous government financing and incentive programs.

The objective was for the private sector to have 70% to 80% ownership in most joint venture enterprises. The Basic Law adopted in 1992 declared that Saudi Arabia is a monarchy ruled by the sons and grandsons of King Abd Al Aziz Al Saud, and that the Holy Qur'an is the constitution of the country, which is governed on the basis of Islamic law (Shari'a). The king's powers are limited because he must observe the Shari'a and other Saudi traditions. He also must retain a consensus of the Saudi royal family, religious leaders , and other important elements in Saudi society. The leading members of the royal family choose the king from among themselves with the subsequent approval of the ulema. In 1975, King Faisal was assassinated by a nephew, who was executed after an extensive investigation concluded that he acted alone.

Faisal was succeeded by his half-brother Khalid as King and Prime Minister; their half-brother Prince Fahd was named Crown Prince and First Deputy Prime Minister. King Khalid empowered Crown Prince Fahd to oversee many aspects of the government's international and domestic affairs. Economic development continued rapidly under King Khalid, and the kingdom assumed a more influential role in regional politics and international economic and financial matters. Members of the ruling family, former governmental officials and their relatives were among those arbitrarily arrested or detained.