Arab football in Israel as an 'integrative enclave'

Over the last two decades, football (soccer) has become a major institution within the popular culture of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel. The centrality of football has given different identity agents opportunities to impose different meanings on the sport, depending on the agents' definitions of collective identity. This article utilizes ethnographic observation in the football stadium and coverage by Arab and Hebrew sports media to illustrate and analyse this battle over meaning. The Hebrew sports media, the Arab sports press, and the Arab audience are three different agents that attach divergent meanings to the notable presence of Arab players in the Israeli football leagues. The article argues that the overlapping interests of the Hebrew sports media on the one hand and the Arab football fans, players, and bureaucrats on the other lead to the construction of the football sphere as an integrative enclave in the general Israeli public sphere. The article considers the relevance of Gramsci's theory of hegemony to explain the production of the integrative meaning of football, and it suggests integrating this explanation with other recent theories regarding the tensions between different discourses of citizenship.     

"You Are a Number, Not a Human Being": Israeli Breast Cancer Patients'' Experiences with the Medical Establishment

In the course of interviews with Israeli women who had recently been treated for breast cancer, we found that our informants tended to offer us "treatment narratives" rather than, or sometimes in addition to, the "illness narratives" made famous by Arthur Kleinman. For the women we interviewed, treatment narratives constitute verbal platforms on which to explore what it means to be human during a period in which one's body, spirit, and social identity are undergoing intense transformations. A central theme in these narratives is the Hebrew word yachas, loosely translated as "attitude," "attention," or "relationship." The women consistently contrasted the good yachas of medical staff who treated them "like humans" or like "real friends" with the bad yachas of staff who treated them like numbers, machines, or strangers. We argue that the women used language (in various contexts) as a means of resisting the medical culture's pattern of treating patients as "nonhumans."     

Speaking the conflict,or how the Druze became bilingual: a study of Druze translators in the Israeli military courts in the West Bank and Gaza

The Druze community occupies a distinctive niche in the broader context of Israel/Palestine, one which is located in the interstices of various socio-political cross-currents, notably Jewish/Arab and Israeli/Palestinian. Druze Israeli identity is built around a politics of difference and separation from all other population groups residing in this area, yet it is an ambivalent and contradictory designation. This article focuses on those Druze who, through their service in the army, have been used as translators in the military courts in the occupied territories. The preference of Druze for this role relates to the fact that they have both bilingual skills (Hebrew and Arabic) and a socio-political status as 'non-Arab Arabs'. Following a general discussion of the politicization of Druze identity, I analyse the state's uses of Druze bilingualism for the purposes of maintaining and legitimizing the occupation, and the effects that fulfilling such a role have had on those who have functioned in this capacity.     

The medicalization of "nature" in the "artificial body": surrogate motherhood in Israel

In this article, I draw on anthropological and feminist scholarship on the body and the nature/culture divide as a framework for understanding the place of surrogate mothers in a conceptual ideology that connects motherhood with nature. I explore links between the medicalization of childbirth in Israel and the personal agency of surrogate mothers as relayed through interviews. Taking the patriarchal context of the Israeli surrogacy law of 1996 into consideration, I underscore surrogates' imaginative use of medical metaphors as tools for the subversion of surrogacy's threatening social connotations. By redefining the surrogate body as "artificial" and locating "nature" in the commissioning mother's body, surrogates adopt medical rhetoric to transform surrogacy from a transgressive act into an alternative route toward achieving normative Israeli national reproductive goals.     

"The Divine Impatience": Ritual, Narrative, and Symbolization in the Practice of Martyrdom in Palestine

Violence is obscured by habits of thought, which predispose us to reject that which falls outside of our notion of "normal' human behavior. By dismissing as incomprehensible, or "pathologic" embodied practices that do not correspond to a "rationally ordered' everyday life, some anthropologists concerned with issues of violence forsake a fundamental responsibility to foster an understanding of phenomena that affronts, offends, or questions our own cultural norms and assumptions. Situations of violence, whether due to contextual or individual instability, by definition defy pregiven notions of "rationality" and "normal behavior." This article is about Palestinian martyrs, youths killed in confrontations with the Israeli military. It seeks to identify the cultural and psychological processes that make Palestinian martyrdom possible within the specific context of Israeli military occupation. It elaborates the ritual, narrative, and symbolic dimensions of a practice that exists within a Palestinian discourse of sacrifice and of national liberation. [Palestinian, martyrdom, embodiment, psychoanalysis, violence]     

Mold: "tsara'at," Leviticus, and the history of a confusion

The noun tsara'at appears about two dozen times in the Hebrew Bible, almost exclusively in Leviticus, where it is used to describe a state of ritual defilement manifested as a scaly condition of the skin, a condition of cloth, leather, and the walls of houses. In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, negac tsara'at was translated as aphe lepras; in the Latin Vulgate, this became plega leprae. These words in Greek and Latin implied a condition that spread over the body, not a term of ritual impurity. Tsara'at has continued to be translated as "leprosy," even though this term is not appropriate, as there was no leprosy as we know it in the Middle East during the time period the Hebrew Bible was written. Others have suggested that the proper translation of tsara'at is "mold." The recent identification of a specific mold (Stachybotrys sp.) that contaminates buildings and causes respiratory distress, memory loss, and rash, and the fact that mold has been present for millennia, lend support to the translation of tsara'at as "mold."     

Soul Citizenship: The Black Hebrews and the State of Israel

Based on the experiences of the Black Hebrews in Israel, this article introduces "soul citizenship," an alternate discourse that asserts the right of individuals and groups to match their self–defined identities with existing states. After years of living in the Jewish State as an illegal yet tolerated presence, the African Hebrew Israelite Community (AHIC) gained temporary residence status, or according to the postnational model of membership, de facto citizenship. Nonetheless, having reformulated their claims in terms of Jewish cultural pluralism instead of race, the Black Hebrews continue to demand full Israeli citizenship. Rejecting postnational splits among identity, legal status, and territory, their soulful claims suggest a model of citizenship that opens new space for misplaced peopled) to gain membership in the states that meet their cultural aspirations and nourish their souls. [Keywords: citizenship, Black Hebrews, Israel, diasporas]     

“WE CAME TO TALK WITH THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE DISEASE:” COMMUNICATION AND CONTROL IN MEDICAL EDUCATION

To explore the ways in which biomedical culture responds to the new curricular addition of communication skills training, we observed activities related to the communication skills training of a class of 70 first-year medical students in an Israeli medical school during 2002–3. In addition, focus groups were conducted with medical students (n = 210) during 1998–2001. A gap was found between the rhetoric of “patient-centered communication” and “empathy” and the traditional concerns of medical authority, efficiency, and scientism. Communication skills and empathy training were appropriated into medical socialization by being reconstructed as clinical competence. Findings are further discussed in the context of medical professionalism, Israeli culture, service acting and service roles, and organizational learning.     

Chapter V: The Active and Passive, "Receptive" and "Productive" in Learning a Second Language

Although in contemporary methods and (insofar as we are justified in using the term at all) in the contemporary psychology of foreign-language learning, the concepts of "active" and "passive" are widely used with reference to aspects of learning, to methods, habits, and models, these concepts are actually quite vague. This raises the necessity of systematically examining the main problems associated with maintaining a distinction between "active" and "passive" in language acquisition.     

Perceptual Learning of Time-Compressed Speech: More than Rapid Adaptation

Background

Time-compressed speech, a form of rapidly presented speech, is harder to comprehend than natural speech, especially for non-native speakers. Although it is possible to adapt to time-compressed speech after a brief exposure, it is not known whether additional perceptual learning occurs with further practice. Here, we ask whether multiday training on time-compressed speech yields more learning than that observed during the initial adaptation phase and whether the pattern of generalization following successful learning is different than that observed with initial adaptation only.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Two groups of non-native Hebrew speakers were tested on five different conditions of time-compressed speech identification in two assessments conducted 10–14 days apart. Between those assessments, one group of listeners received five practice sessions on one of the time-compressed conditions. Between the two assessments, trained listeners improved significantly more than untrained listeners on the trained condition. Furthermore, the trained group generalized its learning to two untrained conditions in which different talkers presented the trained speech materials. In addition, when the performance of the non-native speakers was compared to that of a group of naïve native Hebrew speakers, performance of the trained group was equivalent to that of the native speakers on all conditions on which learning occurred, whereas performance of the untrained non-native listeners was substantially poorer.

Conclusions/Significance

Multiday training on time-compressed speech results in significantly more perceptual learning than brief adaptation. Compared to previous studies of adaptation, the training induced learning is more stimulus specific. Taken together, the perceptual learning of time-compressed speech appears to progress from an initial, rapid adaptation phase to a subsequent prolonged and more stimulus specific phase. These findings are consistent with the predictions of the Reverse Hierarchy Theory of perceptual learning and suggest constraints on the use of perceptual-learning regimens during second language acquisition.     

Reviewing the curriculum

The potential use of IT in secondary biology teaching is enormous, although it is a huge undertaking and fairly daunting to newcomers. Computer learning packages and the web can offer a variety of opportunities for learning, ranging from non-interactive content provision to highly interactive student-centred learning experiences. The learning materials in use in New South Wales (NSW) schools include information web sites, computer learning packages as tutorial or revision material, computer learning packages made by the students, virtual field trips, simulations, and virtual laboratories. In addition, students and teachers are using the web for communicating amongst themselves via email, newsgroups and discussion lists, videoconferencing for both local and global communications, and telecollaborative projects. This article will focus on materials used in student learning, and on the forms of electronic communication in use within the school system. A list of resources is provided.     

On the Perception of Newcomers

Human coalitions frequently persist through multiple, overlapping membership generations, requiring new members to cooperate and coordinate with veteran members. Does the mind contain psychological adaptations for interacting within these intergenerational coalitions? In this paper, we examine whether the mind spontaneously treats newcomers as a motivationally privileged category. Newcomers—though capable of benefiting coalitions—may also impose considerable costs (e.g., they may free ride on other members, they may be poor at completing group tasks). In three experiments we show (1) that the mind categorizes coalition members by tenure, including newcomers; (2) that tenure categorization persists in the presence of orthogonal and salient social dimensions; and (3) that newcomers elicit a pattern of impressions consistent with their probable ancestral costs. These results provide preliminary evidence for a specialized component of human coalitional psychology: an evolved concept of newcomer.     

Grammatical paradigm uniformity

This paper develops a formal model of correspondence between words sharing a Morphological Structure, but not sharing a lexeme. The empirical data used to advocate for this relation is explored using an analysis of nouns and verbs containing /a/ as a Root Vowel in General Modern Hebrew in positions where the corresponding form in Sephardic Modern Hebrew has a voiced pharyngeal. The emergence of Root Vowels reveals mora related generalizations: Root Vowels emerge only if their parallel paradigmatic consonant (consonant that occupies the same prosodic position in other roots of the same Morphological Structure) is in a coda position, i.e. it is moraic. The theory presented in this paper employs Output-to-Output constraints in order to account for surface phenomena which cannot be explained by standard Paradigm Uniformity theory.     

Strain variation and geographic endemism in Streptococcus iniae

Twenty-six Israeli isolates of Streptococcus iniae from both marine and fresh/brackish water sources were compared with each other and with 9 foreign isolates. All the isolates were tentatively identified according to their biochemical profile. Direct sequencing of approximately 600 bp PCR products of the 16S rDNA confirmed their identification as S. iniae at the molecular level and revealed a new (one-nucleotide) variant among Israeli isolates, in addition to 2 variants that had been previously reported. Strain variation was further examined by subjecting the isolates to randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analyses. The RAPD method allowed separation of the isolates into only 2 groups, one including 5 Israeli fresh/brackish water isolates and one including all the other isolates. The AFLP method grouped the Israeli marine isolates into one homogeneous cluster, although they had been obtained in different years (1995 to 2001) from different species of fish, and from wild (Red Sea) as well as cultured (both Mediterranean and Red Sea) sources. The Israeli fresh/brackish water isolates and foreign isolates separated into distinct entities that clustered at generally high degrees of similarity. The distance between the clusters of the Israeli marine and fresh/brackish water isolates indicates that the S. iniae streptococcosis that has been afflicting the aquaculture industries in the 2 environments in recent years was caused by distinct strains. AFLP showed superior discriminative properties over RAPD in detecting intraspecific variation and proved to be an important tool for the characterization of S. iniae. A correlation between strain variation and geographic endemism was established.     

Monitoring Flower Visitation Networks and Interactions between Pairs of Bumble Bees in a Large Outdoor Flight Cage

Pollinators, such as bees, often develop multi-location routes (traplines) to exploit subsets of flower patches within larger plant populations. How individuals establish such foraging areas in the presence of other foragers is poorly explored. Here we investigated the foraging patterns of pairs of bumble bees (Bombus terrestris) released sequentially into an 880m² outdoor flight cage containing 10 feeding stations (artificial flowers). Using motion-sensitive video cameras mounted on flowers, we mapped the flower visitation networks of both foragers, quantified their interactions and compared their foraging success over an entire day. Overall, bees that were released first (residents) travelled 37% faster and collected 77% more nectar, thereby reaching a net energy intake rate 64% higher than bees released second (newcomers). However, this prior-experience advantage decreased as newcomers became familiar with the spatial configuration of the flower array. When both bees visited the same flower simultaneously, the most frequent outcome was for the resident to evict the newcomer. On the rare occasions when newcomers evicted residents, the two bees increased their frequency of return visits to that flower. These competitive interactions led to a significant (if only partial) spatial overlap between the foraging patterns of pairs of bees. While newcomers may initially use social cues (such as olfactory footprints) to exploit flowers used by residents, either because such cues indicate higher rewards and/or safety from predation, residents may attempt to preserve their monopoly over familiar resources through exploitation and interference. We discuss how these interactions may favour spatial partitioning, thereby maximising the foraging efficiency of individuals and colonies.     

Exposure to screens of digital media devices,sleep, and concentration abilities in a sample of Israel adults

A major consequence of the invasion of digital media devices with screens equipped with light-emitting diode (LED) into bedrooms exposes the users to ongoing short wavelength (SWL) lighting during the evening and at night when under natural conditions, long wavelength are dominant. Results of several studies reveal a negative physiological, behavioral, and functional outcome of the exposure to SWL artificial light at night (ALAN) from digital media screens. The aims of our study are to assess the relationships between digital media usage, sleep patterns, subjective sleepiness, and attention abilities in adult Israeli citizens compared with Israeli adolescents. We recruited 280 adult participants using convenience sample method, 49% males and 51% females with an age range of 18–82. The participants filled out self-reporting novel and original questionnaires as follows: demographic, general health evaluation, sleep habits, and difficulties by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS), prevalence, and usage patterns of digital media devices. Smartphones are the most used digital media device in the evening and after bedtime (the time one gets to sleep in bed). Israeli adults used smartphones for 30 min and TV for about 15 min after bedtime. We noted that excessive exposure to these devices at nighttime was associated with longer sleep latency (r = 0.192, p < 0.01) and decreased sleep hours (r = − 0.143, p < 0.05). Moreover, we found a negative correlation between attention abilities in the morning and the usage time of digital media at nighttime (r = − 0.155, p < 0.01). Exposure to digital screens at evening and nighttime was positively correlated with subjective sleepiness on the KSS (r = 0.135, p < 0.05, and r = 0.261, p < 0.01). To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to explore the association between digital media screens usage, sleep, and concentration abilities in the Israeli adult.

     

Ecological Diversity in South American Mammals: Their Geographical Distribution Shows Variable Associations with Phylogenetic Diversity and Does Not Follow the Latitudinal Richness Gradient

The extent to which the latitudinal gradient in species richness may be paralleled by a similar gradient of increasing functional or phylogenetic diversity is a matter of controversy. We evaluated whether taxonomic richness (TR) is informative in terms of ecological diversity (ED, an approximation to functional diversity) and phylogenetic diversity (AvPD) using data on 531 mammal species representing South American old autochthonous (marsupials, xenarthrans), mid-Cenozoic immigrants (hystricognaths, primates) and newcomers (carnivorans, artiodactyls). If closely related species are ecologically more similar than distantly related species, AvPD will be a strong predictor of ED; however, lower ED than predicted from AvPD may be due to species retaining most of their ancestral characters, suggesting niche conservatism. This pattern could occur in tropical rainforests for taxa of tropical affinity (old autochthonous and mid-Cenozoic immigrants) and in open and arid habitats for newcomers. In contrast, higher ED than expected from AvPD could occur, possibly in association with niche evolution, in arid and open habitats for taxa of tropical affinity and in forested habitats for newcomers. We found that TR was a poor predictor of ED and AvPD. After controlling for TR, there was considerable variability in the extent to which AvPD accounted for ED. Taxa of tropical affinity did not support the prediction of ED deficit within tropical rainforests, rather, they showed a mosaic of regions with an excess of ED interspersed with zones of ED deficit within the tropics; newcomers showed ED deficit in arid and open regions. Some taxa of tropical affinity showed excess of ED in tropical desert areas (hystricognaths) or temperate semideserts (xenarthrans); newcomers showed excess of ED at cold-temperate latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere. This result suggests that extreme climatic conditions at both temperate and tropical latitudes may have promoted niche evolution in mammals.     

A new ImageJ plug-in "ActogramJ" for chronobiological analyses

While the rapid development of personal computers and high-throughput recording systems for circadian rhythms allow chronobiologists to produce huge amounts of data, the software to analyze them often lags behind. Here, we announce newly developed chronobiology software that is easy to use, compatible with many different systems, and freely available. Our system can perform the most frequently used analyses: actogram drawing, periodogram analysis, and waveform analysis. The software is distributed as a pure Java plug-in for ImageJ and so works on the 3 main operating systems: Linux, Macintosh, and Windows. We believe that this free software raises the speed of data analyses and makes studying chronobiology accessible to newcomers.     

A comparative ultrastructural study on ultimobranchial glands of some Israeli anurans (Bufo viridis,Rana ridibunda and Hyla arborea)

Summary The comparative fine structure of ultimobranchial (UB) glands of adult Israeli anurans (Bufo viridis, Rana ridibunda, Hyla arborea) taken in the wild during the breeding season is presented. Common aspects of the UB secretory cells are considered with especial reference to secretory granules, lipid droplets and tonofilaments. In B. viridis a second cell type with large electron-dense cytoplasmic granules is found in UB follicles. R. ridibunda and H. arborea UB follicles have a second cell type similar to goblet cells in appearance and these appear to be discharging their mucoid contents into the lumina of the follicles. The possible significance of these various cell types is considered.I am indebted to the Central Research Fund of London University for an award for apparatus and travel enabling a short research visit to the Dept. of Zoology, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem and am particularly indebted to Dr. Dvorah Boschwitz and her colleagues for their enormous help during my visit. I would also like to thank Alan D. Phillips for his assistance in the analysis of the material made possible by an award from the Science Research Council. My thanks are also due to Raynor L. Jones for his excellent technical assistance.     

"Quit Talking and Learn English!": Conflicting Language Ideologies in an ESL Classroom

This article addresses the relationship between educational theory—as manifested in particular ideologies of teaching and learning—and classroom practice. Based on an ethnographic study of English-as-a-second-language (ESL) learning at a Canadian senior public school, I outline a conflict between two language ideologies that give shape to, and are shaped by, the classroom practices of the ESL teacher, his assistants, and the students. I discuss the implications of this ideological conflict in terms of the opportunities ESL students are given, and that they create for themselves, to practice speaking English. I end by outlining how these findings can be used to shape educational policy as it relates to ESL classroom curricula in order to create a more equitable learning environment for ESL students.