Reprogramming Femininity? The Construction of Gender Identities in the Israeli Hi‐tech Industry between Global and Local Gender Orders

Based on the study of gender identities in the Israeli hi‐tech sector, this article sets out to explore the doing of gender in a context comprised of two cultural repertoires characterized by divergent and contradictory fundamental assumptions: the new masculine transnational economy and pro‐natalist Israeli society. The article demonstrates how, by manoeuvering and moving between these global and local cultural repertoires, privileged Israeli hi‐tech women enact and construct a ‘new femininity’ that simultaneously challenges both the discourse of the ‘ideal hi‐tech worker’ and that of traditional Israeli femininity. This new femininity, I argue, is grounded in a local translation of the ‘family friendly organization’ discourse.     

The Impacts of Individual Development Accounts,Assets, and Debt on Future Orientation and Psychological Depression

Individual development accounts (IDAs) have been adopted in communities across the country as a way of helping lower-income individuals accrue financial assets. These programs match the savings of program participants if they invest them in the purchase of a home, the creation or expansion of a business, or additional education. Beyond the financial benefits of holding assets, scholars have argued that they should also result in psychological benefits such as enhanced future orientations and decreased depression. This study tests this argument with data from a randomized controlled experiment involving 1,103 applicants to an IDA program. The findings show that assignment to the IDA program was not associated with either future orientation or depression 10 years later. The value of assets held at that time, however, was found to be negatively associated with depression. In addition, self-reported financial stress was found to be negatively associated with future orientation and positively associated with depression.     

How to improve urban greenspace for woodland birds: site and local-scale determinants of bird species richness

Wooded habitats represent hotspots of urban biodiversity, however, urban development imposes pressure on biota in these refuges. Identification of the most influential habitat attributes and the role of local urban characteristics is crucial for proper decisions on management practices supporting biodiversity. We aimed to identify well manageable fine-scale habitat attributes to suggest specific, feasible and affordable management recommendations for green space in cities. We analysed species richness of woodland-associated bird communities and incidence of individual species at 290 sites in a wide variety of green areas scattered across the city of Prague, Czech Republic. Generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) and regression tree analyses were used to identify site-scale (100 m radius sampling sites) and local-scale (200 m and 500 m radius plots) habitat attributes shaping the bird communities at individual sites. Logistic regression was used to assess the responses of individual species to habitat characteristics. Our results imply that at the site scale, management practices should focus on maintenance and promoting species-diverse and older tree stands, with a mixture of coniferous and deciduous trees. Water-bodies and accompanying riparian habitats should be maintained and carefully managed to preserve high-quality remnants of natural vegetation. Presence of a few old trees (about 12 % of tree cover with DBH?>?50 cm) or small urban standing water and watercourses enrich the bird community by at least two species. Species richness of woodland avifauna at particular sites is further supported by the total amount of tree cover in the surroundings, including scattered greenery of public spaces and private gardens. We conclude that proper management at site scale has the potential to increase biodiversity of the urban environment.     

Perioperative morbidity and mortality in 80 years and older undergoing elective urology surgery – A prospective study

Background and purpose. The number of octogenarians requiring surgery increases constantly. Data regarding perioperative morbidity and mortality in octogenarians is limited. Our aim was to assess surgery-related complications in octogenarians, undergoing urological surgery.

Patients and methods. We prospectively collected data from octogenarians and a control group of younger patients undergoing an elective urological surgery in our institution. Recorded data included: age, gender, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score, co-morbidities, number of medications, operation extent, anaesthesia type, surgery duration and perioperative morbidity and mortality.

Results. Forty-seven octogenarians and 80 patients with a median age of 59 years (range 19–75) enrolled prospectively. Gender ratio, surgeries extent and median operative time were similar among groups. General anaesthesia was more prevalent in the control group. ASA classification and duration of hospitalization were significantly higher in octogenarians. The rate of intra-operative complications was significantly higher in the octogenarians group 6.38% versus 3.75% (p = 0.007), there was no significant difference in immediate post-operative and post-discharge complications among groups. One octogenarian patient died 2 days post-surgery, no death occurred in the control group.

Conclusions. Octogenarians have higher rate of intra-operative morbidity, leading to longer hospital stay. More experienced surgeons and anaesthetists should be involved in the operation; and careful surgical technique, tapered anaesthesia and higher level of post-operative monitoring should be applied for patients in this age.     

Rebirth of the Self: How Battered Women Experience Treatment

The study analyzes battered women's experiences of treatment processes and results. A qualitative methodology based on the phenomenological approach, including semi-structured deep interviews, was used in collecting and analyzing the data of 60 women who had undergone treatment in six different agencies. All the agencies were highly qualified in providing psychosocial intervention in cases involving domestic violence and were operated by the Israel Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. The findings reveal that the most significant experience for the women was being held and contained by the social worker, an action that allowed their recognition of self. Concerning outcomes, objective results such as taking action toward changing the violent relationship or leaving it were much less significant in the women's experience. Various aspects of the experience are described and analyzed, emphasizing the treatment process as a rebirth of the women. Implications for treatment based on this significant perspective are given.     

Parents' Perceptions of Their Children in a Context of Shared Political Uncertainty: The Case of Jewish Settlers in the West Bank Before and After the Oslo Peace Agreement

This study describes the effect of a politically uncertain situation on the parents' experience and on the way they appraise their children's experience. The study focuses on Israeli families living in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) during two periods: the Intifada (the indigenous Arab population's civil uprising) and the years following the Oslo peace agreements. The results of this study indicate the importance of the specific political situation and the particular context that is created for those who experience it. The supportive context of the Israeli population created by the right-wing government affected the parents' ability to withhold their feelings during the Intifada, while the lack of support of the left-wing government increased the expression of emergency feelings by parents. The children, according to the parents' appraisal, expressed more emergency feelings than their parents did during the Intifada. The number of feelings and their intensity diminished after the Oslo Agreements. The discussion focuses on the effect of family role and its interaction with the political uncertainty on the psychological well-being of parents and children.     

Nonverbal expressiveness and physical attractiveness as mediators of interpersonal perceptions

This research examines the impact of spontaneous nonverbal expressiveness and physical attractiveness on the formation of initial interpersonal impressions. It was hypothesized that in the absence of a relationship history with a person, those people who provide more spontaneous, uncensored, nonverbal information would be viewed as more interpersonally attractive. In addition, as a secondary focus of the study, data were analyzed to examine the relationship between physical attractiveness and nonverbal communication abilities. Results suggest that both physical attractiveness and nonverbal expressiveness independent of one another and in conjunction with one another positively impact on interpersonal perceptions. In addition, physical attractiveness was found to positively covary with nonverbal encoding accuracy but negatively covary with nonverbal decoding abilities.The authors wish to express their appreciation to Ross Buck and Robert Ryder for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of the paper.     

Buying and selling price for risky lotteries and expected utility theory with gambling wealth

I analyze two expected utility models which abandon the consequentialist assumption of terminal wealth positions. In the expected utility of gambling wealth model, in which initial wealth is allowed to be small, I show that a large WTA/WTP gap is possible and the (Rabin in Econometrica, 68(5), 1281–1292, 2000) paradox may be resolved. Within the same model the classical preference reversal which allows arbitrage is not possible, whereas preference reversal (involving buying prices in place of selling prices), which does not allow arbitrage, is possible. In the expected utility of wealth changes model, in which there is no initial wealth, I show that both a WTA/WTP gap as well as the classical preference reversal are possible due to loss aversion, both in its general as well as some specific forms.     

Does Prior Banking Experience Matter? Differences of the Banked and Unbanked in Individual Development Accounts

Using data from the 4-year American Dream Demonstration, this study compares saving performance and program participation of banked (n = 1,538) and unbanked participants (n = 466) enrolled in 14 IDA programs. The study shows banked participants had $2.74 higher average monthly net deposit (p < 0.05); 5% higher deposit frequency (p < 0.001); and 42% less odds of drop out than unbanked participants (p < 0.001). Moreover, program characteristics such as financial education, monthly saving targets, peer group meetings, and direct deposit are important predictors of program performances. Individual characteristics such as race/ethnicity, home ownership, and income are significantly associated with program performance.     

From Abstract Concepts to Experiential Knowledge: Embodying Enlightenment in a Meditation Center

How do abstract philosophies turn into lived reality? Based on 2 years of ethnographic observations and in-depth interviews of vipassana meditation practitioners in Israel and the United States, the paper follows the process through which meditators embody the three main Buddhist tenets: dissatisfaction, impermanence and not-self. While meditators consider these tenets central to Buddhist philosophy, it is only through the practice of meditation that the tenets are experienced on the bodily level and thereby are “realized” as truth. This realization takes place in the situated environment of the meditation center, where participation in long meditation retreats facilitates the production of specific subjective experiences that infuse the knowledge of Buddhist tenets with embodied meaning. The paper illustrates how abstract concepts and embodied experience support one another in the construction of meditators’ phenomenological reality and suggests a general framework for studying the variety of relations that exist between the conceptual and embodied dimensions of different types of knowledge.