Search

Background: Integration of digital technologies in schools raises the need of students to master technological, cognitive, and social digital literacy (DL) competencies. Objectives: Based on Hofstede's dimensional paradigm for defining culture, we address the cultural context and examine perceived and actual DL of Arabic‐speaking minority students in Israel. Methods: First, 402 Arabic‐speaking minority students from elementary Arabic‐speaking schools and 232 students from middle schools reported their DL based on the DL framework. Among them, 347 elementary and 205 middle school students performed a battery of DL tasks. Findings and Conclusions: The findings revealed a very low level of DL performance by minority students in both elementary and middle schools. The highest performance score was in information literacy: M = 1.49 and M = 1.55 out of 5.00 for elementary and middle school students respectively. Despite ubiquitous use of social networks, the lowest score was obtained in social–emotional literacy—0.23 for both elementary and middle school students. In contrast to performance, both elementary and middle school minority students estimated their digital literacy competencies as high or very high. Among the elementary students, a weak correlation was found between their DL perceptions and performance of the photo‐visual, branching, and social–emotional literacies. Among the middle school students, the only significant correlation was found between perceptions and performance of reproduction literacy. The findings raise the need to improve DL competencies of minority students and develop their metacognitive abilities. This helps to assess their DL more accurately, in order to ensure their successful functioning in digital environments. Theoretical and educational implications of the findings are discussed. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Digital literacy (DL) is the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information.Previous literature discussed the concept of DL as a culturally situated phenomenon. What this paper adds: This study examined minority students from elementary and middle schools, and crosschecked their perceived DL with actual performance of DL tasks.The findings revealed a very low level of DL performance by minority students relative to the general student population in the same country.A digital over‐confidence effect was found. In contrast to performance, minority students estimated their DL as high or very high.Despite ubiquitous social networking of students, the lowest score was obtained in social–emotional literacy. Implications for practice and/or policy: DL cannot be regarded as detached from the students' context and cultural background.In strong uncertainty avoidance culture, innovation and technology integration in education seems to be perceived as a continuous threat.Educational decision‐makers need to promote a school culture with low power distance, high individualist values, and openness to uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural boycotts of mega-events often receive high media profile, but their effectiveness remains questioned. This effectiveness is influenced by their ability to generate ontological insecurity within the target state. However, measuring the impact of such threats is challenging in light of the evasive nature of the concept of ontological insecurity. Hence, we advance a new way to operationalise the impact of both hosting and boycotting mega-events on ontological security (OS), using quantitative indicators on the societal level, thus allowing for a more systematic cross-national exploration of the dynamics of OS. We also contribute to the research on cultural sanctions and the politics of mega-events, by offering an empirical assessment of their actual impact on society's sense of OS. Finally, the paper points to the importance of de-constructing the concept of 'national' ontological (in)security and to the possibility that different segments in society may be more or less vulnerable to such threats. Using data from a national-wide survey among Jewish-Israelis in the context of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Israel, we found a positive association between its hosting and OS, a perception of threat to OS to some extent following calls to boycott the event, and differences in these perceptions among various social groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a unique case of the application of remote sensing methods in archaeological survey devoted to ancient pre-Roman Imperial roads in the Southern Levant. The results of our preparatory remote sensing research and subsequent fieldwork in Jordan and Israel between 22 February and 23 March 2023, within the framework of the research project entitled "Travel and Mobility in Hellenistic and Early Roman Palestine", are reported and discussed. Part of this project is a large-scale, systematic research attempt to discover additional ancient pre-Roman roads and to suggest a working methodology for future research. The methodology is supposed to combine remote sensing research and archaeological survey. The project's first fieldwork achieved several goals. First, the modern methods enabled us to provide a high-resolution capture of the detected features and artifacts, including the courses of ancient roads and the locations of road-related archaeological sites. Altogether, 105 road remains, 62 archaeological sites, and 14 pottery findings were identified; what is more, 11 GPS (Global Positioning System) tracks of ancient roads were registered. Second, we suggested necessary revisions to the previous state of research and reported new findings. For instance, newly discovered rock art evidence found along Glueck's Road confirms the continuity of the use of this road long into late antiquity and early Islam. Third, some methodological conclusions were reached. For example, a multi-source approach to identifying ancient roads including the use of archival cartographic sources, archival and modern satellite and aerial imagery, and the databases of archaeological sites is still necessary. However, there can be no doubt that spatial analyses and remote sensing studies must be accompanied by archaeological fieldwork, which is absolutely necessary for determining the dating of the roads (by dating the settlement and pottery) and a detailed identification of the road courses (particularly through the discovery of road-related infrastructure). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the structure of a gravitational vacuum star (also known as gravastar) in the background of f (ℜ , 2) theory. This hypothetical object can be treated as a substitute of a black hole, with three regions: (i) the internal region, (ii) the intrinsic shell and (iii) the outer region. We examine these geometries using Finch–Skea metric for the radial metric component along with the particular f (ℜ , 2) model. We determine singularity-free solutions for both the inner as well as thin-shell domains. The smooth matching of the interior region with external Schwarzschild spacetime is obtained through Israel matching constraints. Finally, we study various characteristics of gravastar domains including the equation-of-state parameter, proper length, entropy, energy as well as surface redshift. It is found that the compact gravastar structure is a viable alternate to the black hole in the perspective of this gravity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The investigation of submerged archaeological sites faces numerous logistical challenges in the recovery of stratigraphic sequences and, as a result, is often restricted to surface deposits limiting the application of geoarchaeology. This paper outlines a new integrated field and microanalytical methodological protocol to investigate deep stratigraphic sequences (up to 2 m) within the submerged Pre‐Pottery Neolithic (PPN) site of Atlit‐Yam (9267–7970 cal. B.P. [calibrated years before the present]). A new coring method for the extraction of deep underwater stratigraphy was developed to extract three cores: two between architectural remains within the site and one outside the site. The cores were analysed using Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy, phytolith and pollen analysis and archaeological micromorphology to detect anthropogenic signals and undertake paleoenvironmental reconstruction. Our results indicate anthropogenic evidence at 95 cm depth based on the presence of heat‐altered sediments, high phytolith concentrations and micromorphological observations of archaeological remains. Radiocarbon analysis indicates the oldest anthropogenic layers date to the Mid Pre‐Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) and Late PPNB (9859–9323 cal. B.P.), bearing implications for reassessing the emergence of the first coastal Neolithic villages in the Mediterranean. Our integrated field and multiproxy micro‐geoarchaeological protocol offers a new approach to detecting and studying submerged archaeological sites worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The movement against democratic backsliding in Israel was perhaps the most powerful social movement that Israel has seen, spanning over 3 months. It is credited with halting the right‐wing coalition's anti‐democratic constitutional and judicial reforms. The paper analyzes and highlights key factors in the origins, protest, and outcome stages of the movement. The movement is interesting in how experiences and personal challenges of negative emotions were addressed and overcome by protesting. The movement is also marked by a strategy that helped separate local protest initiatives to coalesce into national disruption events. The most effective forms of pressure are analyzed: resistance headquarters, direct pressures on politicians, pressures by army veteran volunteers, the public involvement of experts, favorable media coverage, and pressures from international players. The movement's impact on stopping the legislation and turning public opinion against the government coalition is finally observed, alongside suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a theory of incremental theoretical evolution connecting the practice of international politics with disciplinary IR. It theorizes how international political actors engaged in strategic local decision-making exert productive power over dominant scientific ontologies of the international system. We refer to the narratives emerging from these processes as strategic ontologies, defined as gradual reformulations of the subjects, objects, and relational logics of the international system according to positionally determined priorities. As strategic ontologies gain acceptance, their innovations endure beyond the context of their utterance, leading to meso-level theoretical evolution. We substantiate this account with comparative case studies of contested strategic ontologies that have yet to become dominant in either the international arena or IR theory. Without strategic ontology as an analytical lens, scholarship might miss embryonic theoretical innovations in the process of gaining traction. First, we examine how Israel and West Germany engaged in strategic ontological contestation when negotiating a reparations agreement following the Holocaust. Second, we analyze how states have used vulnerability in climate negotiations in 2020–2021 to recast global policy priorities. Recognition of strategic ontologies across contexts illuminates theoretical innovations in real-time and opens a path for dynamic new bridges between the academy and policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the trust relations involved in Israel's COVID-19 vaccination campaign, focusing on vaccine hesitancy and the concept of 'trust'. The first section offers a conceptual analysis of 'trust'. Instead of analyzing trust in the vaccination campaign as a whole, a few objects of trust are identified and examined. In section two, the Israeli vaccination campaign is presented, and the focus is placed on vaccine hesitancy. In section three, different trust relations are examined: public trust in the Israeli government and health institutions, interpersonal trust in healthcare professionals and experts, trust in the pharmaceutical companies that make the COVID-19 vaccine, the US FDA, and trust in the new vaccine and the new technology. Through this complexity of trust relations, I argue that it is impossible to completely separate the trust that the vaccine is safe and effective from social aspects of mistrust. Additionally, practices of silencing and censoring the concerns of vaccine hesitaters – both experts and among the public, are pointed out. I contend that these cases further minimize vaccine hesitaters' trust in vaccine-related entities. In contrast, in section four, I suggest the 'trust-based approach': since vaccine hesitancy is not solely the result of knowledge deficiency but also a lack of trust relations, any campaign that addresses vaccine hesitancy should also focus on trust. The advantages of this approach are spelled out. For governments, a discussion based on trust is, ultimately, the best democratic way to encourage hesitaters to take the plunge and get vaccinated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the phenomenological perspective of social work students on their learning process following the implementation of community based participatory research (CBPR) in the context of a social work community practice course. CBPR was implemented in the framework of a partnership between the communities of the Gaza Envelope Region in southern Israel, and the school of social work at the college in the region. Throughout the academic year students engaged in data collection and participated in steering committees that focused on building a regional vision for the communities. At the end of the year stduents were asked to write reflexive essays about their learning experience. Study findings, grounded in a narrative content analysis of 83 reflexive student essays, point to four narratives that characterized their learning: 1) being part of a real-life community intervention process; 2) students-inspired by community residents: the power of hope; 3) the meaning of community; and 4) future professional identity: the desire to engage in community practice. Findings are discussed in light of theories of experiential and transformative learning, community narratives, and professional identity, with reference to the fields of social work community practice education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the normalization between some Arab Gulf states and Israel, the Gulf society has remained mostly distant from it, opting to confront it by various means. This reflects the Gulf popular rejection of normalization policies with the Zionist entity. However, these agreements still pose challenges to pro-Palestinian efforts and to normalization resistance in the Gulf region. This paper showcases four experiences of popular Gulf rejection of normalization with the Zionist entity (including Bahrain,Oman, Qatar and Kuwait), portraying the role of youth movements in these countries in confronting normalization and boycotting the Zionist entity and supporting the Palestinian cause. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Israeli plans to partially annex West Bank territory have mainly been perceived as frustrating the two‐state solution, and as putting Palestine/Israel on a path leading to the one‐state alternative. This paper analyses partial annexation plans without assuming that the future of Palestine/Israel would necessarily abide by either statist resolution. It argues that by ostensibly distancing Israel's hold of the West Bank from an identifiable configuration of a belligerent occupation, partial annexation is offered to Jewish Israelis as a path for detaching the futurity of the two nations, and as a trajectory for normalising the Israeli state, without having to make what much of this public would see as painful concessions. It further explores settlers' objections to such plans, claiming that even a partial incorporation of West Bank territory into formal Israel is expected to erode the exclusivity of Jewish domination which Israel has been upholding in its settler‐colonial frontier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The heat semigroup on discrete hypercubes is well-known to be contractive over L_p-spaces for 1

Scholars have identified a range of variables that predict public health compliance during COVID-19, including: psychological, institutional and situational variables as well as demographic characteristics, such as gender, location and age. In this paper, we argue that religious affiliation is also a clear predictor for compliance with public health guidelines. Based on a sample representative survey (N = 800) of Haredi Jews in Israel, we found that Haredi Jews mostly followed COVID-19 health regulations. Among the respondents who were non-compliant, however, we found large divergences which mostly reflected religious affiliation. While members of Lithuanian and Sephardi communities reported following guidelines, Hasidim, a more charismatic sub-group, were 12% and 14% more likely to flout public health guidelines than their Lithuanian and Sephardi counterparts, respectively. Despite this inner diversity, all Haredim were portrayed in Israeli media as one homogeneous group that was blamed for flouting public health guidelines and spreading COVID-19. Based on these findings, we argue for the importance of public health messaging that attends to diverse aspects of religious dogma, practice and observance by creating partnerships and sustainable relationships between different actors and stakeholders. In addition, we found that compliance was also shaped by knowledge about COVID-19 and public concern. Taking these findings together, health communication that acknowledges religious diversity while providing critical knowledge about the pandemic is key to developing and implementing community-focused interventions and public health programs. Practically, these insights help to improve pandemic governance as well as contributing theoretically to the study of public health relations and religion by highlighting how discourses around health vary and how differently positioned actors shape representations of responsiveness and health compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the discriminatory character of Israeli politics as our point of departure, this paper argues that for large numbers of Palestinian Israeli citizens, new realistic terms of collective engagement are attractive and possible. Based on analytical Marxism and writings about realist normative political theory, we contend that politicians can advance strategies that establishing foundations for resolving the minority's trap. Meanwhile, constructing identities is always delimited by the capacity of politicians to meet material needs and preserve certain distinct elements of the old "trapped identity". This framework guides elaboration of the recent political discourse and strategies of the Israeli Knesset members Ayman Odeh and Mansour Abbas. While Odeh is a radical realist, Abbas is a realistic realist, excluding arguments based on values that the Israeli state cannot accept. Nonetheless, Abbas' project is not only fragile but has also demanded the substantial political and moral sacrifice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gap is still very deep between what happened and is still happening in Palestine since 1948, and the image that "Israel" and its supporters have been promoting around the world over the past decades. As the Zionist and Israeli narrative dominates the Palestinian narrative, distorting the truth and turning it into Judaization, we present a research paper that discusses the most prominent founding headlines of the Zionist entity and what has happened to the Palestinians in 1948 and till today. The discussion refutes and dismantles the Zionist allegations, and is based on the book titled "Ten Myths About Israel" written by the Israeli historian “Ilan Pappe”, in addition to other important books and articles written in the same field. Proving that the Zionist and Israeli claims are nothing but "myths" that tamper with the facts of history, geography, and demography, thus Judaizing knowledge and twisting history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores recent transformations in Islamic pilgrimage patterns in Israel/Palestine. The meanings assigned to traditional Muslim sites, and the conduct and practices of the dwindling number of pilgrims who visit them, are the struggling victims of strategic socio-political erasures caused by dramatic geo-political changes. Since 1948, the hegemony of the State of Israel has perversely politicized sacred Islamic sites beyond their traditional religious functions. Muslim pilgrims, for their part, engage in rituals that have become a counterweight to Israeli ethnocratic imperatives. The reconstruction of an Islamic pilgrimage map presents a shared imaginative landscape as lieux de mémoire that undergird political and social resistance. The dogged survival of Islamic pilgrimage comprises a counterweight to state power. Muslims fight to affirm Palestinian identity, reclaim heritage spaces as anchors for identity, and actively engage with land claiming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessible Summary: What Is Known on the Subject?: The decision to apply for disability benefits may be an important breakthrough in the life of people with severe mental illness.The literature regarding the process of applying for mental health disability benefits is scarce. What the Paper Adds to Existing Knowledge?: This study is, to the best of our knowledge, the first to fully describe the experience of submitting a claim for mental health disability benefits, as experienced by those diagnosed with severe mental illness.The process of applying for recognition of a mental health disability has three chronological stages—before the claim submission, during the claims process and after recognition.Clients approach the process without any prior knowledge, and therefore they need professional help when submitting their claim.A deterioration in clients' mental health prompts them to apply.A lack of trust in the system affects the application decision/process.The medical committee hearing is described as a complex and multifaceted experience.Clients reported being extensively preoccupied with stigma throughout the process. What Are the Implications for Practice?: Professional assistance throughout the claims process is a key factor with the potential to change clients' experience of the entire process.It is important to educate mental health nurses about the disability applicating process.Mental health professionals are encouraged to be mindful of the facilitating/hindering mechanisms that are dominant at each stage of the process.There is a need for liaising with relevant agencies that act as advocates for those diagnosed with a mental health illness. Introduction: The decision to apply for disability benefits may be an important breakthrough in the life of those diagnosed with severe mental illness (SMI). Nevertheless, the literature regarding the application process is scarce. Aim: The aim of the study was to explore how people who receive mental health disability benefits retrospectively perceive the process of applying for and receiving these benefits. Methods: Twenty‐four in‐depth qualitative interviews were conducted with people whose mental health disability was recognized in the past few years. Results: Analysis revealed three themes describing the process's chronological stages: Before submitting the claim (from deterioration to trust), during the claim process (from bureaucracy to understanding), after receiving recognition (from stigma to gratitude). Each stage includes facilitating factors (e.g. encouragement from professionals) and hindering factors (e.g. stigma, lack of knowledge and trust). Discussion: This is the first study to fully describe the experience of applying for mental health disability benefits, as experienced by clients. The decision to apply is perceived as complex and difficult. Although clients are extensively preoccupied with stigma throughout the process, they are able to express gratitude for the opportunities made available to them. Implications: Professional assistance throughout the claim is a key factor with the potential to change clients' experience of the entire process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most effective methods of preventing large-scale wildfires is creating fuelbreaks, buffer zones whose purpose is to stop or delay the spread of the fire, providing firefighters an opportunity to control the fire. Fuelbreaks are already applied in several countries and have proven their effectiveness. However, creating fuelbreaks involves deforestation, so the length of the fuelbreaks should be minimized as much as possible. In this paper, we propose the implementation of a greedy Dijkstra-based fuelbreak planning algorithm which identifies locations in which fuelbreaks could significantly reduce the risk of large wildfires, at a relatively low deforestation cost. We demonstrate the stages and output of the algorithm both on artificial forests and on actual forests in Israel. We discuss the factors which determine the cost effectiveness of fuelbreaks from a tree-economy perspective and demonstrate how fuelbreaks' effectiveness increases as large wildfires become more frequent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescents' mental health was severely compromised during the COVID-19 pandemic. Longitudinal real-world studies on changes in the mental health of adolescents during the later phase of the pandemic are limited. We aimed to quantify the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on adolescents' mental health outcomes based on electronic health records. This was a retrospective cohort study using the computerized database of a 2.5 million members, state-mandated health organization in Israel. Rates of mental health diagnoses and psychiatric drug dispensations were measured among adolescents 12 to 17 years of age with and without pre-existing mental history, for the years 2017 to 2021. Relative risks were computed between the years, and interrupted time series (ITS) analyses evaluated changes in monthly incidence rates of psychiatric outcomes. The average population size was 218,146 in 2021. During the COVID-19 period, a 36% increase was observed in the incidence of depression (95% CI = 25-47), 31% in anxiety (95% CI = 23-39), 20% in stress (95% CI = 13-27), 50% in eating disorders (95% CI = 35-67), 25% in antidepressant use (95% CI = 25-33), and 28% in antipsychotic use (95% CI = 18-40). A decreased rate of 26% (95% CI = 0.80-0.88) was observed in ADHD diagnoses. The increase of the examined outcomes was most prominent among youth without psychiatric history, female youth, general secular Jewish population, youth with medium−high socioeconomic status, and those 14 to 15 years of age. ITS analysis confirmed a significantly higher growth in the incidence of psychiatric outcomes during the COVID-19 period, compared to those in previous years. This real-world study highlights the deterioration of adolescents' mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic and suggests that youth mental health should be considered during health policy decision making. We worked to ensure sex and gender balance in the recruitment of human participants. We worked to ensure race, ethnic, and/or other types of diversity in the recruitment of human participants. We actively worked to promote sex and gender balance in our author group. The author list of this paper includes contributors from the location and/or community where the research was conducted who participated in the data collection, design, analysis, and/or interpretation of the work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the place of music in the lives of two women, mother and daughter, in the context of their socio-cultural environment. The study presented here addresses the role of social and cultural elements in determining the musical lives and musical identities of women in a minority group. The paper will explore this issue by presenting a case study of two women -- a mother and her daughter that are part of the Arab Christian minority in the north of Israel. Music has always played an important role in the lives of both women but there are differences in the way the two women treat music in their lives. The paper examines the social norms of the different generations of mother and daughter that are reflected in their musical lives. These social norms are explicitly linked to the status of these women in their community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During Trump’s administration, the United States has introduced a peace plan in the Middle East known as the “Deal of the Century” (DOTC). The DOTC was a plan to propose a “solution” for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The plan has invited criticisms following Trump’s administration which recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moved the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. What was the content of the peace plan and how will it be implemented? Why such a decision has been taken by Trump? Will Joe Biden, who is now replacing Trump as the US President, continue with the DOTC plan? To answer these questions, this paper aims to examine the content of the deal and analyze its impacts on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and stability in the Middle East region. To achieve this objective, critical content analysis has been made on the DOTC peace plan as well as existing reports and studies related to DOTC. Basically, the content of the DOTC peace plan gave more advantage to Israel, which indicates the US’ pro-Israel attitude. The deal will further complicate the peace process between Israel and Palestine because it only benefits one side. In addition, the DOTC also has the potential to cause a remapping process of the Middle East and invite the involvement of regional powers. This paper argues DOTC as a failed project because it was unable to attract the stakeholders to the negotiation. The deal is expected not to be continued by Biden who is likely to come up with his own peace plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the role of judges in authorising the extension of placements in solitary confinement in Israeli prisons for lengthy periods of time. It qualitatively examines, through content analysis of 354 Israeli court decisions, how judges negotiate and rationalise the harmful effects of solitary confinement when balanced against the prison authorities' reasoning for subjecting prisoners to it. Finding an overall tendency to defer to the expertise of prison authorities, we examine what Sykes & Matza termed 'techniques of neutralisation' used by judges to distance themselves from the responsibility for solitary confinement placements and the hardship they inflict. The paper further discusses the socio-legal and organisational structures and contexts which incentivise the prioritisation of prison security/discipline over the protection of prisoners from the 'pains of solitary confinement'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examines silent panels in five Israeli graphic novels and comics that deal – directly or indirectly – with traumatic events, whether personal, national, or both. Much has been written about comics and trauma. Such studies have mainly been aimed at revealing the importance of comics in documenting, confronting, witnessing, remembering, and reporting trauma; or answering questions such as how fiction and nonfiction comics and graphic narratives shape the traumatic event, or why the graphic memoir is a powerful instrument for coming to terms with the traumatic experience. Yet, the intersection between silence and trauma in graphic narratives has not received sufficient attention. A quick overview of the works chosen for our analysis illustrates that silence, as a theme, may relate to (a) the genre itself; (b) the authors' individual artistic language and self-reflexivity; and (c) the specific episode of personal or national trauma being dealt with in the work. In this paper, we wish to illuminate the diverse roles silence fulfills in comics dealing with trauma, which we hope will be useful in bolstering the value of silence as a form of expression – not only in oral and written communication, but also in multimodal texts – and thus substantiate current theories on silence as a semiotic sign. Our study is conducted in the framework of silence theories, which claim that silence is a meaningful signifier as long as it serves a purpose and is related to intention. It is also carried out within the framework of multimodal discourse theories. Specifically highlighting the idiosyncrasies of the Israeli arena, the present paper also addresses a significant body of works on the representation of trauma in comics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropologists have critically examined a range of reforms from education and land to finance and health. Yet the predominant way of looking at reforms has been through a lens focused on neoliberal governance. For example, prior studies of health reforms focus on insurance, financing, and access to care. Yet, seeing reform in this way fails to attend to other types of cultural work at play when calling a policy or law a reform. In this paper, we draw on ethnographic research on health policy reforms in Israel and Bolivia to examine the concept of reform and the work it does within national movements. We argue that while the language of reform often signals change or novelty, reforms also carry forward historical continuities and reifications of the past. By delving into the past and its relationship with ongoing health reforms, we attend to how reforms can reinforce and maintain health inequities in some cases, while creating a national language for new possibilities in others. Reform, as we will discuss in this paper, is not only about political ideology, neoliberal governance, or on-the-ground policy implementation, but centrally it is about representations of aspirations, and about crafting relationships between past, present, and future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Interrupted time series (ITS) analysis is a time series regression model that aims to evaluate the effect of an intervention on an outcome of interest. ITS analysis is a quasi-experimental study design instrumental in situations where natural experiments occur, gaining popularity, particularly due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, challenges, including the lack of a control group, have impeded the quantification of the effect size in ITS. The current paper proposes a method and develops a user-friendly R package to quantify the effect size of an ITS regression model for continuous and count outcomes, with or without seasonal adjustment. Results: The effect size presented in this work, together with its corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) and P-value, is based on the ITS model-based fitted values and the predicted counterfactual (the exposed period had the intervention not occurred) values. A user-friendly R package to fit an ITS and estimate the effect size was developed and accompanies this paper. To illustrate, we implemented a nation population-based ITS study from January 2001 to May 2021 covering the all-cause mortality of Israel (n = 9,350 thousand) to quantify the effect size of Covid-19 exposure on mortality rates. In the period unexposed to the Covid-19 pandemic, the mortality rate decreased over time and was expected to continue decreasing had Covid-19 not occurred. In contrast, the period exposed to the Covid-19 pandemic was associated with an increased all-cause mortality rate (relative risk = 1.11, 95% CI = 1.04, 1.18, P < 0.001). Conclusion: For the first time, the effect size in ITS: was quantified, can be estimated by end-users with an R package we developed, and was demonstrated with data showing an increase in mortality following the Covid-19 pandemic. ITS effect size reporting can assist public health policy makers in assessing the magnitude of the entire intervention effect using a single, readily understood measure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insufficient dental restoration finishing and polishing may lead to plaque accumulation, gingival inflammation, staining, caries, and esthetic impairment. Here, the effect of two finishing and polishing systems on surface roughness and bacterial adhesion were evaluated. Two finishing and polishing kits were evaluated: diamond burs (Shine 1-2, Strauss & Co, Raanana, Israel) and paper discs (Sof-Lex 3M ESPE, Seefeld, Germany) (n = 30 each). For each group surface roughness was evaluated using an optical profilometer (Contour GT-K1, Bruker, Billerica, MA, USA) (n = 10). Surface bacteria were evaluated for biofilm biomass using crystal violet (CV) staining (absorbance measured at 538 nm) and viable counts (CFU/mL) (n = 20). The control group included polymerized discs against a Mylar strip (n = 30). Student's t test and one-way ANOVA were used for statistical evaluation. Diamond burs, paper discs, and control average surface RA were 169.4 ± 45.2 µ, 364 ± 77.7 µ, and 121.2 ± 18.1 µ, respectively. There was a significant difference found between all groups (p < 0.00001). Bacterial biomass on diamond burs, paper discs, and control samples were 0.458 ± 0.161, 0.507 ± 0.139, and 0.446 ± 0.142, respectively (p = 0.257). Viable bacterial counts (CFU/mL) on diamond burs, paper discs, and control samples were 2.25 × 104, 2.95 × 104, and 2.75 × 104, respectively (p = 0.856). A comparison between two finishing and polishing kits showed that the shine 1–2 diamond bur kit produced a smoother surface than the polishing disc kit. No differences were found in the biofilm biomass quantification and bacterial viable count between the groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cabinet ministers in parliamentary democracies have significant agenda‐setting power. However, not all ministers use it equally. This paper examines what affects the ministers' use of their agenda‐setting power. It explores this question based on the case of Israel, using three measures of agenda change and in‐depth interviews with former ministers. The paper finds that limited agenda capacity constrains the ministers' agenda‐setting power. However, the ministers themselves do not see this as a significant constraint and point at motivation instead. Ministers holding a portfolio that is salient to their party are not likely to change the agenda more. Ministers from small parties change the agenda less, and so do ministers in ministries where a significant proportion of services are provided by street level bureaucrats. Ministers in ministries that are seen as more salient change the agenda more. These findings are consequential for understanding policy responsiveness and proportionality in policy response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Isolated sphenoidal sinusitis (ISS) is a rare disease with non-specific symptoms and a potential for complications. Diagnosis is made clinically, endoscopically, and with imaging like CT scans or MRIs. This study aimed to evaluate if ISS meets the EPOS 2020 criteria for diagnosing acute rhinosinusitis and if new diagnostic criteria are needed. Materials and methods: The study analyzed 193 charts and examination records from 2000 to 2022 in patients diagnosed with isolated sphenoidal sinusitis at the Ziv Medical Center in Safed, Israel. Of the 193, 57 patients were excluded, and the remaining 136 patients were included in the final analysis. Patients were evaluated using Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT), neurological and sinonasal video endoscopy, radiological findings, demographic data, symptoms and signs, and laboratory results. All these findings were reviewed according to the EPOS 2020 acute sinusitis diagnosis criteria and were analyzed to determine if ISS symptoms and signs fulfilled them. Results: The patients included 40 men and 96 women, ranging in age from 17 to 86 years (mean ± SD, 37 ± 15.2 years). A positive endoscopy and radiography were encountered in 29.4%, and headache was present in 98%; the most common type was retro-orbital headache (31%). The results showed that there is no relationship between the symptoms of isolated sphenoidal sinusitis and the criteria for diagnosing acute sinusitis according to EPOS 2020. Conclusion: ISS is an uncommon entity encountered in clinical practice with non-specific symptoms and a potential for complications. Therefore, the condition must be kept in mind by clinicians, and prompt diagnosis and treatment must be initiated. This kind of sinusitis does not fulfill the standard guidelines for acute sinusitis diagnosis criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue showcases research exploring the work of settler individuals and groups in support of projects of decolonisation in Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, Canada and Israel. The papers gathered here were developed from presentations at an international symposium held in Auckland, New Zealand and online in February 2021. As symposium organisers and editors of this collection, we speak and write as settler subjects ourselves, and this collection is situated within the field of Settler Colonial Studies (SCS). This editorial provides an opening framing of the field into which these papers speak, and a survey of some of the key themes within the wider literature. We aim firstly to locate this work within the wider field of scholarship and activism on decolonisation and decoloniality, delimiting the particular focus of decolonisation within settler-dominated contexts. We then discuss the critiques that have been mounted against SCS and some important defences of the field. We argue that while settler colonialism persists, work in SCS has a contribution to make – in highlighting and critiquing settler logics and in identifying changes that it is within the power of settler peoples themselves to make as a contribution towards Indigenous-led decolonisation. Further, we argue that decolonising settler societies must involve settlers learning to be 'in relation' with Indigenous worlds and people outside of deeply habituated logics and practices of domination. The papers gathered here provide examples of settler subjects at various points on the path of decolonising themselves and learning the work of 'being in relation'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper aims to find the settlement strategy that the Israeli occupation uses to establish, build, and expand its network of settlements over time. This strategy is based on certain motives and uses certain mechanisms and means that were established through a set of plans and projects for the purpose of expropriating Palestinian land and displacing indigenous people. In addition, this strategy includes settling a large number of Israeli settlers on the land expropriated from the Palestinians. All this aims to help Israel achieve its settlement strategy and impose a new de facto situation. The research paper finds that the Israeli settlement policy is based on an already decided plan through which Israel attempts to dominate and control the strategically most important sites in the West Bank to serve its political, economic, and security interests. All this comes at the expense of the Palestinian population and its land. Therefore, the current study stresses the necessity of preparing a comprehensive strategy or plan to achieve sustainable development of the Palestinian lands in order to face dangers posed by the Israeli settlement expansion. It also encourages horizontal urban expansion of Palestinians instead of vertical urban expansion in order to confront Israeli expropriation and confiscation of Palestinian land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper expands the discussion on the effect of the subjective Holocaust influence level (SHIL) on the daily financial thinking and attitude of Holocaust survivors' offspring (HSO). For this purpose, we asked 253 Jewish-Israeli HSO about their financial satisfaction, materialism, income confidence, willingness to save money, generosity, and miserliness, and divided them into three groups based on their SHIL. We find that SHIL affects materialism, income confidence and generosity, but not financial satisfaction or motivation to save money. This paper increases our understanding of how the subjective perceptions of HSO impact the long-term influence of the Holocaust on their lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How is it that indigenous persons can voice support for Christian Zionism and opposition to Christian nationalism simultaneously? Why is there an incongruence between their rejection of Christian nationalism and their support for Christian Zionism? This paper explores this incongruence by shedding light on the entanglement of Christian Zionism and Christian nationalism, analysing notions of land, body, and self in relation to Christian Zionism and Christian nationalism, and by examining how such notions shape Native communities' support for Christian Zionism. This paper argues that in the American context, Christian nationalism and Christian Zionism are inherently interconnected as colonial projects, and have influenced American self-understanding and occupied the imagination of Americans, thus resulting in the colonial self. In this context, settler colonialism is normalised and shapes Native communities' understanding of their identity in relation to Israel and their response to Christian Zionism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Dysarthria' is a group of motor speech disorders resulting from a disturbance in neuromuscular control. Most individuals with dysarthria cope with communicative restrictions due to speech impairments and reduced intelligibility. Thus, language‐sensitive measurements of intelligibility are important in dysarthria neurological assessment. The Frenchay Dysarthria Assessment, 2nd edition (FDA‐2), is a validated tool for the identification of the nature and patterns of oro‐motor movements associated with different types of dysarthria. The current study conducted a careful culture‐ and linguistic‐sensitive adaption of the two intelligibility subtests of the FDA‐2 to Hebrew (words and sentences) and performed a preliminary validation with relevant clinical populations. First, sets of Hebrew words and sentences were constructed, based on the criteria defined in FDA‐2, as well as on several other factors that may affect performance: emotional valence, arousal and familiarity. Second, the new subtests were validated in healthy older adults (n = 20), and in two clinical groups (acquired dysarthria, n = 15; and developmental dysarthria, n = 19). Analysis indicated that the new subtests were found to be specific and sensitive, valid and reliable, as scores significantly differ between healthy older adults and adults with dysarthria, correlated with other subjective measures of intelligibility, and showed high test–retest reliability. The words and sentences intelligibility subtests can be used to evaluate speech disorders in various populations of Hebrew speakers, thus may be an important addition to the speech–language pathologist's toolbox, for clinical work as well as for research purposes. What this paper adds: What is already known on the subject: 'Dysarthria' is a group of disorders reflecting impairments in the strength, speed and precision of movements required for adequate control of the various speech subsystems. Reduced speech intelligibility is one of the main consequences of all dysarthria subtypes, irrespective of their underlying cause. Indeed, most individuals with dysarthria cope with communicative restrictions due to speech impairments. Thus, language‐sensitive measurements of intelligibility are important in dysarthria assessment. The FDA‐2's words and sentences subtests present standardized and validated tools for the identification of the nature and patterns of oro‐motor movements associated with different types of dysarthria. What this paper adds to existing knowledge: The lack of assessment tools in Hebrew poses challenges to clinical evaluation as well as research purposes. The current study conducted a careful culture‐ and linguistic‐sensitive adaption of the FDA‐2 intelligibility subtests to Hebrew and performed a preliminary validation with relevant clinical populations. First, sets of Hebrew words and sentences were constructed, based on the criteria defined in FDA‐2, as well as on several other factors that may affect performance: emotional valence, arousal and familiarity. Second, the new subtests were validated in healthy older adults (n = 20), and in two clinical groups (adults with acquired dysarthria, n = 15; and young adults with developmental dysarthria, n = 19). What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?: Analyses indicated that the new word and sentence subtests are specific, sensitive, valid and reliable. Namely, (1) they successfully differentiate between healthy individuals and individuals with dysarthria; (2) they correlate with other subjective measures of intelligibility; and (3) they show high test–retest reliability. The words and sentences intelligibility subtests can be used to evaluate speech disorders in various populations of Hebrew speakers. Thus, they may be an important addition to the speech–language pathologist's toolbox, for clinical and research purposes. The methods described here can be emulated for the adaptation of speech assessment tools to other languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

History education has been instrumental in transmitting collective memories across generations while sustaining national traditions. Many nations use history education to instill national memories in their future citizens. In the current Jewish context, history is arguably a dominant cultural discourse. History education is deemed central to preparing future Jewish citizens of Israel. In particular, Zionist scholars and educators use the Bible as their primary text, providing an infrastructure of history and myths for this national ideology. In order to investigate the relationship between political ideology, education, and national memories, this paper explores the ways in which the Hebrew Bible and Jewish history are being taught interchangeably in Jewish-Israeli schools. Drawing on various source materials (such as political videos, school curricula, and textbooks), the paper retraces the origins of this conflation, critically examines its goals, and suggests possible effects it may have on the formation of children's and adolescents' collective memories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the quantitative analysis of measured fracture-induced electromagnetic radiation (FEMR) near the Dead Sea Transform using the Angel-M1 instrument, which enables the recording of FEMR signals in a 3D manner. The results showed both the possibility of estimating the sizes of micro-fractures that are the sources of radiation and assessing the direction of the fractures' locations to the measuring device, as well as the range of magnitude (Mw) of the impending "events" (EQs) associated with the FEMR measurements. Moreover, the relation between the measured FEMR activity (the number of FEMR hits per unit of time) and the FEMR event magnitudes showed consistency with the Gutenberg–Richter relationship for the region. Such measurements could therefore constitute a preliminary 'field reinforcement' towards a valid EMR method for a real earthquake forecast, which would provide much earlier warnings than seismic methods. The observed FEMR measurements could only be used to assess the stress concentrations and micro-fracturing in the region since they related to the very initial nucleation phase of a "virtual" earthquake. Nonetheless, they provide the necessary feasibility test for a forecasting method since all of the lab-measured FEMR features were confirmed in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meir Dvorjetski was a Holocaust survivor, teacher, and historian. He is best remembered for his descriptions of the medicine practiced by the Nazis during World War II, as well as the diseases, disorders, syndromes, and deaths resulting from such practice—particularly, though not solely, on the Jewish race. Dvorjetski's contributions to Holocaust research at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, his underground partisan work, his contributions to society, and his testimony at the Eichmann trial have all been well documented. However, his earlier years—including his survival of the Holocaust, and his less-known medical achievements and contributions to historical records regarding the Holocaust—have not been covered as thoroughly. These latter items are the focus of this paper, with a closing commentary on the relevance of his work for the 21st century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the creation of women‐only organizational spaces as a diversity practice and assesses their potential to facilitate the workforce inclusion of religious women from gender‐conservative groups. Based on longitudinal fieldwork in two ultra‐Orthodox‐Jewish women‐only colleges in Israel and interviews with students and staff, we demonstrate how this practice constitutes three types of liminality—spatial, social, and epistemic—that enable ultra‐Orthodox women to move unimpeded between a familiar, religious environment and a secular one. In this protected and carefully curated environment, they feel safe and are able to develop new identities relevant to the secular labor market while maintaining or even enhancing their traditional, religious sense of self. The liminal space of the college reinforces their sense of belonging to a space of their own and serves as a bridge that helps them cope with the secular world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The body of international law that regulates the conduct of armed conflicts has been known, at various points in time, as the law of war, the law of armed conflict, and international humanitarian law. While 'the law of war' was a term widely used in State practice throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, both 'the law of armed conflict' and 'international humanitarian law' were terms introduced in the 20th century by one organisation: the International Committee of the Red Cross. In this paper, we use international law and corpus linguistic tools in a pilot study, examining how the terms were first introduced into international law and how quickly they were incorporated (if at all) into the practice of States. Using the ongoing conflict involving Israel and its neighbours, this pilot study charts the appearance and recurrence of these terms in the practice of States in the United Nations to examine how the terms were received and used. We conclude by offering some initial assessments, noting that, while the terms were largely considered unproblematic at their introduction, practice in relation to their deployment suggests deep tensions regarding the nature and purpose of the law and how and when it applies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we reveal and describe the context in which education policy networks in Israel have expanded recently, given the evolving interdependent relationships among the actors involved. We draw upon resource dependence theory, which assumes that actors' power relations within a network depends on their own and others' perceptions of the dependency relations among the different actors in the network. Policy documents and committee reports were identified and analyzed qualitatively, alongside transcripts of semi-structured, in-depth interviews conducted with stakeholders in Israeli education policy. We identified significant changes regarding which stakeholders take initiative for policy-making and implementation processes in Israeli education. We related these changes to the dynamics of resource dependence relationships among actors. In addition, we revealed a new stage in the evolution of educational governance in Israel – a transition from intersectoral collaboration within a top-down policy process defined and led by the Ministry of Education to a situation in which policy networks including non-governmental stakeholders initiate and subsequently lead many education policy processes. At this new stage, certain non-state actors increased their power, presence, and influence over Israeli education policy and can thus shape existing policies by leveraging their perceived control over a range of resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research has stressed the role of age and generation in climate change discourse, worries, and willingness to act. Therefore, the present paper aimed to examine the role of chronological age (as an arbitrary factor, which represents ageism) in lay people's climate change-related attitudes, feelings, and behavioral intentions. Two experiments in different countries, Australia and Israel, were conducted for this purpose. The first study examined the impact of the age of the speaker, who provides information about the climate crisis and the second examined the impact of the age of the group being blamed for the situation. Outcome variables included perceived responsibility and motivation for the current climate situation in study 1 and perceived climate change-related attitudes, feelings, and behavioral intentions in study 2. In study 1 (n = 250, Australia), the age of the speaker, a climate activist, varied randomly to test the hypothesis that a younger activist would be more influential and increase motivation and responsibility to act compared to an older activist. In study 2 (n = 179, Israel), the age (young vs. old) of the group identified as being responsible for the climate crisis varied randomly, to test the hypothesis that people would be more willing to identify older people as being responsible for the current climate situation, and this would impact climate change-related attitudes, feelings, and behavioral intentions. Both studies resulted in null effects. Additionally, there was no interaction between the age of the respondent and the age of the source of the message or the age group being blamed by the message. The present study has failed to show that strategies that emphasize intergenerational conflict and ageism impact people's attitudes, feelings, and behavioral intentions towards the current climate situation. This possibly can serve as an instigator for strategies that emphasize intergenerational solidarity, rather than conflict, as a guiding principle in future campaigns that advocate climate change adaptation and mitigation measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Pew Research Center's 2020 survey of American Jews is a valuable resource to scholars of American Jewry, enabling interrogation of questions using data that no other source can reliably provide. One set of questions pertains to the reach and impact of Birthright Israel, the largest extant Jewish educational program targeted at Jewish young adults, on American Jews. Pew's nationally representative sample provides important validation of previous findings regarding Birthright's impact on participants and extends the generalizability of what has been learned. In this paper we use data from the 2020 Pew survey to assess the program's "reach" into different segments of the American Jewish population and to extend the validity of existing findings regarding the program's impact on participants' attitudes and behaviors related to Israel and Jewish life. Pew's data estimate that around 20% of American Jews ages 18–46 have participated in Birthright, and that among Jewish parents with a grown child, nearly 30% have an adult child who participated in the program. After controlling for preexisting differences between participants and those who have never been to Israel, Pew's data also confirm that Birthright has a significant impact on a broad set of Jewish outcomes. These results support a more optimistic view of the future for US Jewry and suggest that the investment in large-scale educational interventions can substantially alter the trajectory of the American Jewish community writ large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports findings on associations between four subscales of social alienation and psychological distress and sleep problems, and the moderating effects of ethnic pride and shame on these relationships. The study employed a cross-sectional survey design. Participants were 1008 Israeli Palestinian and Jewish adolescents recruited via public schools that allowed access. The questionnaires were administered in adolescents' native language (Hebrew or Arabic) in their homeroom classes. As hypothesized, findings showed that adolescents who have more trust in procedural justice and prefer their own ethnic group reported fewer sleep problems and that adolescents who were less committed to the law and more alienated reported more sleep problems. The findings also showed negative association between psychological distress and believing in procedural justice and positive association with alienation. However, of sixteen moderating effects tested only ethnic pride reached statistical significance and moderated the effect of alienation on sleep problems. Findings also showed that gender, ethnicity and SES were partially linked to both outcomes variables. Psychological distress and sleep problems were associated with female gender, Palestinian-Israeli ethnic affiliation and low SES. Several possible explanations are offered for the findings. Directions for future research, and potential implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: In this paper, we showed that only a minority of patients (23%) undergoing upfront pancreatic resection completed the planned 12 courses of FOLFIRINOX, and we delineated the reasons for not completing it. We showed that patients who received neoadjuvant treatment were significantly more likely to receive six treatment courses, and that those who received at least six courses had better overall survival than those who did not. We suggest considering the potential ways of increasing chemotherapy adherence, such as administering treatment before surgery. We believe this article will promote research that has already started—neoadjuvant treatment for patients with resectable pancreatic cancer. Background: The recommended treatment for resectable pancreatic cancer (PC) is resection followed by adjuvant FOLFIRINOX. We assessed the proportion of patients that managed to complete the 12 courses of adjuvant FOLFIRINOX and compared their outcome with that of patients with borderline resectable pancreatic cancer (BRPC) who underwent resection after neoadjuvant FOLFIRINOX. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on a prospectively maintained database of all PC patients who underwent resection with (2/2015–12/2021) or without (1/2018–12/2021) neoadjuvant therapy. Results: A total of 100 patients underwent upfront resection, and 51 patients with BRPC received neoadjuvant treatment. Only 46 resection patients started adjuvant FOLFIRINOX, and only 23 completed 12 courses. The main reasons for not starting/completing adjuvant therapy were poor tolerance and rapid recurrence. Significantly more patients in the neoadjuvant group received at least six FOLFIRINOX courses (80.4% vs. 31%, p < 0.001). Patients who completed at least 6 courses, either pre- or postoperatively, had better overall survival (p = 0.025) than those who did not. In spite of having more advanced disease, the neoadjuvant group had comparable overall survival (p = 0.062) regardless of the number of treatment courses. Conclusion: Only a minority of patients (23%) undergoing upfront pancreatic resection completed the planned 12 courses of FOLFIRINOX. Patients who received neoadjuvant treatment were significantly more likely to receive at least six treatment courses. Patients receiving at least six courses had better overall survival than those who received fewer than six courses, regardless of the timing of treatment relative to surgery. Potential ways to increase chemotherapy adherence, such as administering treatment before surgery, should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why have Israel and the Palestinians failed to implement a 'land for peace' solution, along the lines of the Oslo Accords? This paper studies the application of strategic behavior models, in the form of games, to this question. I show that existing models of the conflict largely rely on unrealistic assumptions about what the main actors are trying to achieve. Specifically, they assume that Israel is strategically interested in withdrawing from the occupied territories pending resolvable security concerns but that it is obstructed from doing so by violent Palestinians with other objectives. I use historical analysis along with bargaining theory to shed doubt on this assumption and to argue that the persistence of conflict has been aligned with, not contrary to, the interests of the militarily powerful party, Israel. The analysis helps explain, from a strategic behavior perspective, why resolutions like the Oslo Accords, which rely on the land for peace paradigm and on self-enforcement, have failed to create peace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obtaining accurate rainfall measurements is highly important in urban areas, having a significant impact on different aspects in city life. Opportunistic rainfall sensing utilizing measurements collected by existing microwave and mmWave-based wireless networks has been researched in the last two decades and can be considered as an opportunistic integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) approach. In this paper, we compare two methods that utilize received signal level (RSL) measurements obtained by an existing smart-city wireless network deployed in the city of Rehovot, Israel, for rain estimation. The first method is a model-based approach using the RSL measurements from short links, in which two design parameters are calibrated empirically. This method is combined with a known wet/dry classification method, which is based on the rolling standard deviation of the RSL. The second method is a data-driven approach, based on a recurrent neural network (RNN), which is trained to estimate rainfall and classify wet/dry periods. We compare the results of rainfall classification and estimation from both methods and show that the data-driven approach slightly outperforms the empirical model and that the improvement is most significant for light rainfall events. Furthermore, we apply both methods to construct high-resolution 2D maps of accumulated rainfall in the city of Rehovot. The ground-level rainfall maps constructed over the city area are compared for the first time with weather radar rainfall maps obtained from the Israeli Meteorological Service (IMS). The rain maps generated by the smart-city network are found to be in agreement with the average rainfall depth obtained from the radar, demonstrating the potential of using existing smart-city networks as a source for constructing 2D high-resolution rainfall maps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to investigate to what extent the self-figure drawings of young adult Thais differ from the self-figure drawings of a matched Israeli group. The convenience sample consisted of 24 participants; 12 Israelis and 12 Thais were asked to draw themselves with a pencil on a sheet of A4 paper and add a narrative to the drawing. In addition, they were asked to draw how they are perceived by the other group. Analyses of variance were conducted within and between the groups of drawings. The results indicated significant differences in body size, body shape, and the addition of cultural symbols between the two groups. The differences in cultural values were discussed in light of the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gay tourism is commonly studied through pride events in cities. Rethinking the role gay men's bodies and politics play in the context of tourism to Israeli heritage sites, this paper contributes to debates on geopolitics and geographies of sexualities and the embodied approach to tourism. Analyzing daytrips through the Occupied Palestinian Territories, I argue that sensual, embodied and haptic practices, which are immanent to gay men's travel cultures, play into a pinkwashing geopolitics in this specific circumstance. Thus, this paper conceptualizes pinkwashing mechanisms operation through heritage tourist sites just as much as they are produced via the presentation of Tel Aviv as a modern space of acceptance of LGBT sexualities, albeit obviously in different ways. Moreover, tourists' notions of place and non-place construct how (urban) space is produced as meaningful while other (heritage) space is marginalized. Methodologically, I present a reflexive embodied ethnography, which relies on my researcher's reflexivity to produce an analysis through a story. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes Israel's changing understanding of its geostrategic posture from its establishment in 1948 to the current era. It starts by reviewing traditional Israeli geostrategic ideas and their implementation, mostly, as reflected in the nation's national security doctrine. The paper then investigates the effect of Israel's territorial expansion after 1967 on Israeli ideas about geostrategy. Finally, the paper shows how changing global, regional, and technological variables in the last two decades have transformed how Israeli elites understand their geostrategic realities and how they allocate resources in response to these changing conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]