Who participates,who does not,and why? An analysis of voluntary neighborhood organizations in the United States and Israel

Lack of participation in voluntary associations and the associated issues of why people do or do not participate are major areas of interest in the research literature concerning citizen participation. The present study used three types of variables (demographic, social psychological, and costs/benefits) to investigate the characteristics of participants and nonparticipants in neighborhood-type organizations in the United States and Israel. Findings from analysis of the demographic variables show some cross-cultural similarities (including a surprising lack of race/ethnic and education differences between participants and nonparticipants). There were striking cross-cultural similarities using the social psychological variables. The data from the Israel sample provide important information on the costs and benefits of participation. A discriminant analysis points to the predictive strength of social psychological and cost/benefit variables in comparison to demographic variables. Implications of these results for explanatory and predictive purposes are discussed.     

The longevity gender gap: are telomeres the explanation?

In this Perspective, we focus on the greater longevity of women as compared with men. We propose that, like aging itself, the longevity gender gap is exceedingly complex and argue that it may arise from sex-related hormonal differences and from somatic cell selection that favors cells more resistant to the ravages of time. We discuss the interplay of these factors with telomere biology and oxidative stress and suggest that an explanation for the longevity gender gap may arise from a better understanding of the differences in telomere dynamics between men and women.     

Time series analysis for repeated surveys

Estimation of a characteristic based on surveys repeated at regular intervals is considered. A state space formulation is given for the problem and the Kalman Filter is used to obtain an estimate and its variance. Some examples are also given to illustrate the methodology.     

Cooperation in Repeated Games When the Number of Stages is not Commonly Known

It is shown that an exponentially small departure from the common knowledge assumption on the number T of repetitions of the prisoners' dilemma already enables cooperation. More generally, with such a departure, any feasible individually rational outcome of any one-shot game can be approximated by a subgame perfect equilibrium of a finitely repeated version of that game. The sense in which the departure from common knowledge is small is as follows: (I) With probability one, the players know T with precision ±K. (ii) With probability 1 −ε, the players know T precisely; moreover, this knowledge is mutual of order εT. (iii) The deviation of T from its finite expectation is exponentially small.     

International conference on Jewish civilization in eastern and central Europe,Minsk, 24–26 January 2000

A Symposium on Soviet Jewry

The Jews in Soviet Russia, Since 1917, Lionel Kochan (ed.). London, Oxford University Press for Institute of Jewish Affairs. 1970. ix + 357 pp. Index. £2.50.

Wanted: a history of Soviet Jewry

The Silent Millions: A History of the Jews in the Soviet Union by Joel Cang. London, Rapp and Whiting. 1969. 246 pp. £2.10.

Red Rose

Rosa Luxemburg, Ich War — Ich Bin — Ich Werede Sein, by Harry Wilde. Wien‐Muenchen‐Zurich, Verlag Fritz Molden. 1970. 264 pp.

A Book on Georgian Jewry

Yehudey Gruzia: Ma'avak Al Ha'shiva Le‐tsion (The Jews of Eorgia: A Struggle for the Return to Zion), by Mordecai Neishtat. Tel‐Aviv, Am Oved Publishers, Ltd. 1970. 148 pp. (in Hebrew).

Menshevism and the Jewish question

Russian Social Democracy; the Menshevik Movement. A Bibliography, by Anna M. Bourgina. Hoover Institution Bibliographical Series: XXXVI, The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, Stanford University, Stanford, California. 1968. 392 pp. (no price listed), (in Russian; English introduction).

Jewish writers of Byelorussia

Pismienniki Savieckaj Bielarusi: Karotki Bijabiblijahraficny Davednik (Writers of Soviet Byelorussia: a short Biobibliography), A. Harodzicki et al (comp.). Minsk, Vydavectva ‘Bielarus’. 1970. 440 pp. 82 kopeks.     

Trajectories of Fertility and Household Composition in the Demographic Profile of the Czech Republic

The household composition matrix is a representation of the demographic structure of households, specific to age groups of household members and household heads. As such, the matrix reflects also the environmental conditions, housing in particular, that mould households' demographic structure. By specifically depicting the presence of children in households, household composition could be viewed as gauging fertility within the context of housing conditions. This stance is examined in an application to Czech census data for the year 1991, at the commencement of an intense process of socio-economic transformation that accompanied the collapse of communism across Eastern Europe. Within this process, housing had an inadvertent impact upon the structure of households in general, and upon fertility decline in particular. By using the standard matrix representation of household composition, correspondence between trajectories of age-specific fertility and household composition emerge throughout the Czech Republic. This correspondence illustrates the potential household composition analysis carries for fertility measurement and estimation in rapidly changing economic environments.     

Successful adoption and implementation of a comprehensive casework practice model in a public child welfare agency: Application of the Getting to Outcomes (GTO) model

In recent years, several states have been developing or adopting casework practice models in an effort to shape the thinking and behavior of front line child welfare workers with a commitment to improving the safety, permanency and well-being outcomes of vulnerable children in their care (Antle, Christensen, Barbee & Martin, 2008; Christensen, Todahl & Barrett, 1999; Courtney, 2009; Folaron, 2009). This article presents one framework for approaching the organizational changes that need to be made in order to support a practice model. The Getting to Outcomes” Framework (Wandersman, 2009) is a useful approach for ensuring that all areas to support practice change are addressed.     

Seeing Red (and Blue): Effects of Electoral College Depictions on Political Group Perception

Colored maps depicting electoral results may exacerbate perceptions of polarization, rather than merely reflecting them. Participants viewed maps of state-by-state Presidential election results that were either Electoral (red/Republican or blue/Democrat) or Proportional (purples that proportionally reflected each group's support). Half of the maps also displayed state-level numeric electoral results. Participants viewing Electoral maps perceived the nation as more politically divided, stereotyped the political beliefs of residents of various states more, and saw people holding views in the political minority as less agentic and less likely to vote. These differences occurred even in the presence of numeric data. Implications of these findings for intergroup perception in several domains are discussed, including the impact of electoral depictions on political campaigns and elections .