The criminal and civil protection of industrial designs and models in the Palestinian law

Industrial designs are considered the results and creations of the human brain, including innovations in the form of goods and products, and are moral rights that represent a financial value that deserve to be protected the same as the rest of the rights of the industrial property. It gives its owner an exclusive right to face everyone as well as giving him the right of exploitation and the right to prevent anyone from cloning or using without the permission of the original creator. However, this kind of protection is not given to industrial designs and models unless they are officially registered in the competent departments according to the laws of each country. This essay will discuss the subject of legal regulations for industrial designs and models in Palestine in a comparative study with Jordanian and Egyptian legislation

Does Official development assistance for health from developed countries displace government health expenditure in sub-saharan countries?

This paper empirically examines the foreign aid fungibility in the health sector of 45 Sub-Saharan countries over the period of 1995-2012. The aim of the study is to investigate the effect of foreign health aid on government health expenditure by using two methods: the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) and the Fixed Effect Instrumental Variables (FE-IV). The estimation was conducted on the full sample and on two sub samples: middle- and low-income countries. We found strong evidence of partial fungibility in the health sector as follows: an increase of 1% in health aid leads to an increase of 0.04 to 0.1% of government health spending, noting that the magnitude of fungibility in middle-income countries is higher than in the low-income ones.Scopu

Do Exchange Rate Changes Improve the Trade Balance in GCC Countries: Evidence from Nonlinear Panel Cointegration

This study examines the asymmetric impact of the nominal effective exchange rate (NEER) on the trade balance in GCC countries over the period of 2000:Q1 to 2017:Q4. The empirical findings of the nonlinear pooled mean group (PMG) estimator reveal the presence of a J-curve shape where an increase in NEER (currency depreciation) deteriorates the trade balance in the short run and improves it in the long run. Findings also prove that the trade balance's response to NEER positive changes is greater compared to negative changes. The policy implication of these findings reveals that NEER is a useful tool to sustain the trade balance. 2022 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.Scopu

A new quadratic asymmetric error correction model: does size matter?

We introduce a new quadratic asymmetric error correction model that comprehensively accounts for both sign and size asymmetries. We also propose a test protocol that allows to rigorously identify different sources of long-run nonlinearity, namely quadratic nonlinearity, size asymmetry and sign asymmetry. We use a nonparametric residual recursive bootstrap technique to report p-values for the long-run tests. Simulation results confirm the consistency of our proposed estimator in finite samples and show that the bootstrapped tests have reasonably good size and power properties. Although our estimation of the Okun's Law for the USA confirms previous findings on the direction of the sign asymmetry, its reveals that the magnitude of the impact of economic downturns on unemployment decreases faster than the impact of upturns. Forecasting results show that our new model performs better than NARDL. 2022, The Author(s).Scopu

On Urgently Tackling the Mosquito-Borne Diseases in the European Union

Context: According to a recent Lancet report the world is dangerously close to reaching climate-driven points of no return. Climate change, together with other drivers, contributed to a large diffusion of mosquito-borne diseases (MBDs) in the last decades. The intensity of such a phenomenon led various mosquito species to migrate to new areas, outside their historical habitats. Europe is among the affected territories. Moreover, the problem is projected to rise and expand within the continent, including populations who have never been exposed to MBDs and impacting the whole society, especially the most vulnerable groups. As Europe is a relatively new area for the diffusion of MBDs, no strong and unified measures have been put into practice yet. Meanwhile, MBDs surveillance experiences implemented across Europe report gaps, such as the absence of entomological research and legal support, the capacity limitation for surveillance, and variability in entomological and epidemiological surveillance systems. Hence, it could be necessary to use the experiences from Latin America, Asia and Africa. Given the aforementioned overview, this policy brief aims to provide policy options in order for the European Union to address MBDs, with a particular emphasis on strengthening surveillance across the Member. States given recent attention drawn to this issue by the ECDC’s 2021 report on vector control and surveillance. Policy Options and recommendations: This advisory group conducted a non-systematic literature review to determine three policy options, with a specific focus on surveillance, to address the issue of MBDs. 1. Surveillance systems for mosquitoes and MBDs should be implemented in all member states, and case definitions for these MBDs should be harmonised to enable coordination and consistency of MBDs surveillance across the European Union (EU). 2. Create an EU-level networks umbrella for financial and organisational coordination of Member States (MS)’ multi-sectoral collaboration on MBDs surveillance. 3. Developing the competencies for surveillance and research professionals for mosquitoes and MBDs surveillance

Can government expenditure help reconstruct the Syrian economy in the post-conflict period? evidence from the SVAR and nonlinear ARDL models

This paper explores the viability of the fiscal policy in the reconstruction of the Syrian economy. We use the Structural VAR estimation technique to assess the response of real GDP to shocks in government expenditures and exchange rates in the parallel market. We also control for other variables including money supply and oil prices. We find that government spending is an effective tool for economic recovery in particular under a quasi-fixed exchange rate regime. We also employ the nonlinear ARDL (NARDL) model to detect the existence of asymmetrical effects of government spending on real GDP. The NARDL results show that negative changes in government expenditure have more impact on economic growth compared to positive changes. Additionally, the NARDL model reveals that the post-conflict period was characterized by large government spending’ inefficiencies. Finally, we study three alternative government spending’ rebuilding scenarios. We document that reaching the pre-conflict GDP level is possible under two of the scenarios we investigate. Hence, our results provide strong policy implications according to which fiscal policy can, under specific exchange rate regimes, reverse the adverse effects of civil wars

IMPACT: Ideal Measures for Participation and Awareness of Climate Change: Stronger Together Citizen participation in achieving the European Green Deal in the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion

Context: The European Green Deal is a tool to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. To reach this goal, action is needed on all organizational levels. At the same time, temperatures keep rising, and the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion (EMR) suffered from heavy floods in the summer of 2021and extreme weather events are expected to increase. This is an example of a cross-border issue and therefore shows the need for cross-border climate action. The EMR could be a showcase for climate action and collaboration for other border regions across Europe and worldwide. Policy Options: Citizens often do not feel responsible for taking climate action; however, everyone should contribute to achieving the biggest results in tackling climate change. Therefore, three policy options are presented to increase citizen participation in climate action: local climate measurements, sustainable food consumption, less food waste, and sustainable cities through urban gardening. These policy areas deserve more attention and have room for improvement. Recommendations: Encourage the implementation of citizen science projects in the EMR. Gather insights on the region's greenhouse gas emissions. Provide more sustainable food in institutional canteens and reduce food waste. Use social media as a tool to provide information about sustainable food. Use urban areas for urban gardening projects. Create community sustainability challenges. &nbsp

The impacts of productivity differentials and oil price on the real exchange rate misalignment: Evidence from a developing country

This study examines the impact of oil price and productivity differentials on real exchange rate (RER) misalignment in Syria from 1980 to 2010. In order to do that, this research develops an index for productivity differential by applying the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds test for cointegration proposed by Pesaran et al. (2001). The empirical results found that there is a positive and significant relationship between productivity differentials, oil price, gross capital formation and RER appreciation while government expenditure has an opposite impact. Stability tests show that RER adjusts towards its equilibrium path. The empirical results further conclude that a flexible exchange rate raise the adjustment speed towards the equilibrium in the long run. Consequently, Syria's monetary policy economy should achieve a flexible exchange rate regime to ease the convergence of the exchange rate after a shock occurs. 2019 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.Scopu

Liberated women, enlightened men: discourses on the 19th century Arab Renaissance in Egypt and Syria

© 2019 Kinda AlsamaraArab scholarship of the history of the Arab world's relationship with the West has typically been characterised by a narrative of struggle against Western hegemony and colonial domination. This narrative has failed to give sufficient recognition to the fact that in the nineteenth century, numerous Arab intellectuals, important members of the elite and significant segments of the general public were positively receptive and admiring of Western ideas. Significant segments of the general public embraced these ideas with open arms and seemed, initially, to be quite accepting of the apparatus of colonialism. European influence on nineteenth century Arab culture was more substantial than originally understood by Arab writers. A more nuanced perspective of Arab engagement with the West, adopted in this research, shows how Arab intellectuals who were fascinated by the West's achievements tailored Western Enlightenment ideas to suit their own society. The impact of the Western Enlightenment and early modernity on nineteenth century Egyptian and Syrian society and on women's education was profound. The focus of this study is on educational reforms which empowered women and allowed Arab women to enter the intellectual life of the nineteenth century. The emergence of female Arab writers and journalists affected not only women's domestic lives and the development of their consciousness regarding their rights, but also enabled women to participate in other spheres of public life. The establishment of women's literary societies and salons led to the development of a social consciousness that later allowed women to secure key legal, educational and marital reforms at the national level. This study illustrates the lasting influence of Western ideas on Arab society in the nineteenth century, particularly with regard to the education and advancement of women