Sector In Israel Research Articles

Clinical characteristics of autism spectrum disorder in Israel: impact of ethnic and social diversities.

Despite the increased global prevalence and recognition of autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), it is still scarcely reported in the Arab world. Though Israel has a higher prevalence of ASD, a previous national survey of patients diagnosed between 1972 and 2004, demonstrated that 98% of them were of Jewish ancestry. The disproportional low number of Arab children with ASD in Israel is unclear but may reflect lower awareness and cultural bias. In the present study we collected clinical and demographic characteristics of 200 children with ASD from Arab and Jewish sectors in Israel that were evaluated in two child development centers. We compared the incidence and the medical comorbidity of autism between these two ethnics groups. The medical and psychiatric comorbidity profile in these children was similar to the worldwide published studies. In the present study the prevalence of autism in the Arab sector in Israel was similar to that of the Jewish sector. The Arab patients presented with more severe autistic manifestations and higher incidence of mental retardation, familial members with autism, and consanguinity (P < 0.05), while in the Jewish sector milder forms (such as Asperger syndrome and PDD-NOS) were more frequent. This discrepancy might be explained by both genetic and cultural factors.

THE COGNITIVE ACCELERATION CURRICULUM AS A TOOL FOR OVERCOMING DIFFICULTIES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF INQUIRY SKILLS IN SCIENCE EDUCATION AMONG PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

Many primary school pupils find it difficult to apply inquiry skills in general and variable control in particular, and fail to appreciate the importance of control groups in scientific research. The present study focused on levels of thinking among sixth-graders in the course of an open-ended inquiry activity, by following the planning and execution of an experiment, isolation and variable control, and the difficulties encountered by students in the implementation of various inquiry skills. The study population consisted of forty-four sixth-graders from a primary school in the Arab sector in Israel's Northern District. The students were divided into two groups, one that underwent a process of intervention in teaching in the form of three lessons using the CASE approach, while the other learned with the New Outlook textbook. The study's results point to a significant difference between the CASE intervention group and the New Outlook intervention group with respect to the final grade of the "variable identification and connection test". An examination of the differences in student achievement between the pre- and post-test reveals an improvement in the post-test final scores among the CASE group of students, in comparison to the New Outlook group. Key words: CASE, cognitive acceleration, curriculum, inquiry skills, science education.

Toward Multicultural Environmental Education: The Case of the Arab and Ultraorthodox Sectors in Israel

Recent thinking in multicultural education can contribute to environmental education (EE) in culturally diverse societies. This article uses case studies of two minorities in Israel to illustrate the potential for bringing together these two areas of educational research that have developed significantly in recent years. After introducing the topics of EE and multicultural education, we discuss some compelling intersections between them. We then introduce the Arab and ultraorthodox sectors, and describe the ways in which issues of educational contents, representation, resources, and infrastructure affect EE in these sectors. We show how policies and concrete measures for forwarding EE in these groups in a multicultural manner can draw on their specific culture, education systems, and environmental situations.

The shaping of pharmaceutical governance: the Israeli case.

This article focuses on governance of the pharmaceutical sector in Israel. It traces the relationships between the state, industry, and sick funds from before the establishment of National Health Insurance (NHI) in 1995 to the beginning of this decade, in particular as they have grappled with the challenge of making national formulary decisions in a rational manner. Subsequent to the introduction of NHI there have been shifts in the modes and mix of governance. This research shows empirically that a relatively complex mix of hierarchical and network modes of governance can be successfully established over an extended period of time when flexibility is maintained through the implementation process. The system for defining and updating a standard basket of health services has coped well with the challenge of managing a range of difficult and potentially volatile stakeholder relationships in the pharmaceutical sector and of distancing ministers from controversies of funding and listing decisions. Government has succeeded in containing drug costs whilst still maintaining a basket of reimbursable drugs that, from an international perspective, is comprehensive and technologically advanced.On the other hand, network arrangements appear to have delayed the introduction of suitable accountability relationships and hindered their development. The state has traditionally played an intermediary role between unavoidable corporate interests of industry and sick funds, with little transparency and to the detriment of more pluralistic access to decision making. Governance arrangements in Israel appear to limit the potential and incentive of the state and the sick funds to realize their potential countervailing powers in subsidy and pricing decisions.

Teachers and the religious socialization of adolescents: Facilitation of meaningful religious identity formation processes

This study investigated the effects of religious education on student religious identity over and above parent religiosity by examining student perceptions of two aspects of teacher functioning: teacher caring and teacher as role-model. We posited that effects of these variables on students' religious identity are mediated by student perceptions that the school provides a non-alienating religious atmosphere and meaningful religious studies. Participants were 2691 male and female students (grades 9–12) in 152 classes of 25 schools from the Jewish public-religious sector in Israel. Results indicate that in addition to their parents' religiosity, adolescents' perceptions of their teachers as role models and their religious studies as meaningful are important variables affecting their religious identity. Moreover, this research suggests that religious identity formation processes flourish in an educational environment which students perceive as accommodating religious exploration.

Predicting defaults of highly-levered firms with an adapted Altman model

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this paper is to analyse whether applying Altman's model, with specific adjustments to highly levered firms, can reliably predict bankruptcies one quarter, one year, and two years in advance. Our focus on highly levered firms is motivated by leverage-driven theories of financial crises, where highly levered firms are the early defaulters once the expansionary phase of the business cycle turns into a recessionary phase. We find high predictability of defaults of firms in the Real-estate and Holding-companies sectors in Israel one year before the recent crisis.

The Future Orientation of Arab Adolescents with Intellectual Disabilities and their Parents Regarding their Future

The purpose of this study was to compare the future orientation of adolescents with intellectual disabilities from the Arab sector in Israel and their parents regarding their future. The findings showed that adolescents really do give a lot of thought to their future, but that there are gender related differences in their future orientations. There were gender differences in the future orientation of their children amongst the fathers in contrast to mothers. A match was found between the orientations of both parents; no correlation was found between the orientation of the parents and the future orientation of the adolescents.

Determinant of Successful Technology Sector

This study uses path dependence and analysis of feedback structures to identify the determinants for developing a successful technology sector in Israel during the 1990s. The four determinants introduced in the study are: Entrepreneurship, Knowledge Base in the form of academy R&D, industry R&D and military R&D, Financial Base in the form of venture capital and exit market and, Government programs that were specifically designed to stimulate the development of entrepreneurial technology sector. We present a Causal model of the development of technology sector in Israel and discuss its generic applicability.

Adoption of the Internet for knowledge acquisition in R&D processes

This research investigated Internet-based knowledge search patterns of engineers and scientists working in R&D for companies in the pharmacological and information technology sectors in Israel. Building on earlier work that considers the multidimensional nature of the relative advantage construct, we examine how perceptions of learning, informational convenience, and trust affected intentions to use the Internet to acquire new knowledge. In particular, these perceptions were studied with regard to both active and passive modes of interaction. We also considered here which types of technological knowledge are acquired by researchers, and how that differs across two professional communities of practice – scientists and engineers. This study sheds light on how R&D workers perceive the relative advantage of acquiring necessary knowledge through passive and active modes of communication with other researchers that are facilitated by the Internet. Findings are of interest to the literature on knowledge spillover because the capability of an organisation to acquire, disseminate, and exploit knowledge is crucial to R&D efforts.

Another flew over the digital divide: internet usage in the Arab-Palestinian sector in Israel during municipal election campaigns, 2008

This article is part of a pioneering study which analyses Internet usage by some 600 candidates for heads of 156 local authorities in Israel in the municipal campaigns of 2008. Despite the importance attributed to the municipal elections in the Arab-Palestinian sector in Israel, the high turnout rate, the competitiveness of the elections and the continuing penetration of the Internet, it was scarcely used by candidates, compared to about 50% usage by candidates who competed in municipalities with Jewish populations. Interviews suggest that beyond access gaps, additional obstacles impede the usage of the Internet as an effective political tool in the Arab-Palestinian sector.

Usefulness of Plastic Hoffman Apparatus in Chemistry Classes: A Case Study of Its Implementation with High School Teachers

In this article we present simple and feasible idea to introduce electrolysis experiments using accessible materials in the classroom. We use plastic syringes and pipettes to build different shapes of Hoffman apparatus for electrolysis. This activity was introduced to a group of 20 teachers from the Arab sector in Israel to examine their impressions about the activity and investigate the feasibility of implementing the activity in their classrooms.

Students’ Self-Diagnosis Using Worked-Out Examples

Students in physics classrooms are often asked to review their solution to a problem by comparing it to a textbook or worked-out example. Learning in this setting depends to a great extent on students' inclination forself-repair; i.e., their willingness and ability to recognize and resolve conflicts between their mental model and the scientifically acceptable model. This study examined the extent to which self-repair can be identified and assessed in students’written responses on a self-diagnosis task in which they are given time and credit for identifying and explaining the nature of their mistakes assisted by a worked-out example. Analysis of 180 10th and 11th grade physics students in private and public schools in the Arab sector in Israel showed that although most students were able to identify differences between their solution and the worked-out example that significantly affected the way they approached the problem many did not acknowledge the underlying conflicts between their interpretation and a scientifically acceptable interpretation of the concepts and principles involved. Rather, students related to the worked-out example as an ultimate template and simply considered their deviations from it as mistakes. These findings were consistent in all the classes and across all the teachers, irrespective of grade level or school affiliation. However, younger students in some classrooms also perceived the task as a communication channel to provide feedback to their teachers on their learning and the instructional materials used in the task. Taken together, the findings suggest that instructional intervention is needed to develop students’ ability to self-diagnose their work so that they can learn from this type of task.

Performance or Politics: Promotions in the Israeli Public Sector

The paper presents findings of a research examining the perceptions regarding promotions of employees in the public sector. A questionnaire containing a series of factors related to promotion was conducted on 166 employees from the public sector in Israel. The findings reveal that the public sector employees ranked organizational politics as the most important factor, followed by tenure, pressure on the supervisor, success in projects/ missions, experience and education. Comparison between workers' and managers' perceptions exposes substantial differences in most of the factors influencing promotion. The meaning of the findings and their implications are discussed in the paper.

Engage Them to Public Service

This article deals with the emerging concept of Employee Engagement (EE) and its meaning for public administration research and theory. Generically, EE reflects a positive, fulfilling, affective-motivational, work-related state of mind characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption. In an attempt to understand whether the concept of EE is meaningful for public administration research and theory, we examine its essence and foundation using a comparative method. First, we compare EE with two well-established employee–organization relationship (EOR) concepts: Affective Commitment (AC) and Job Involvement (JI). Second, we compare EE in public versus private sector employees, and finally, we compare the concept in employees and managers in the public sector. Our study is based on an interactive sample of 593 employees and managers from both the private and public sectors in Israel. The results support several hypotheses. First, EE is an empirically distinct construct compared with other EOR concepts. Second, EE is higher among public sector employees than private sector employees. Third, EE is higher among public managers than public employees. Implications of our findings and recommendations for future theoretical and empirical studies of EE are discussed.

15:45 VIOLENT CRIMES IN PEOPLE WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA

The ultraorthodox sector in Israel, while an integral part of society, has unique cultural characteristics along with limited media exposure. Both these features impact the perceptions of driving and road safety, as well as the ability to influence them. In view of the scarcity of research literature on these issues, the present study sought to gain further insight into the community in an attempt to find a creative way to leverage road safety among ultraorthodox road users in Israel.Using the phenomenological qualitative method, 60 face-to-face in-depth interviews were conducted with women and men of different ages and backgrounds from the major ultraorthodox communities. Findings reveal that for the ultraorthodox, driving is a controversial subject that represents much more than its normative practical function in modern Western societies. It is subject to sociocultural restrictions that are reflected, inter alia, in limited public discourse on road safety. Moreover, the findings highlight the prominent educational role of women in this sector: they are exclusively responsible for raising young children, and are the sole educators of girls of all ages. In addition, as people tend to marry young, and men do not generally drive before marriage, women can influence the safety habits of their spouse as well as their children. The authors suggest building on this potential to increase awareness of road safety by empowering ultraorthodox women to serve as agents of social change in their family and community.

The development of the successful high tech sector in Israel, 1969-2009

This article describes the events and processes that led to the development of the Israeli high tech cluster. Understanding the Israeli cluster is important because Israel is probably the most successful example of replication of the Silicon Valley model outside of North America. It explains the development of multiple factors, including sophisticated human capital, technological institutions and an open, global environment, that were crucial for building the Israeli high tech cluster. This is most important for policy makers who want to learn about the successful structuring of a high-technology innovative sector in a small, open economy.

Teachers’ Perceptions of the Interactive Boards for Teaching and Learning

The interactive board is an integral part of the modern classrooms and a tool that teachers utilize for its didactic and pedagogic potentialities. The main goal of this research was to examine teachers’ perceptions of the educational aspects (pedagogic, didactic, technical-pedagogic and technical-didactic) of the interactive board for teaching and learning in the Arab sector in Israel, where interactive boards have been introduced into the classrooms for almost two years. Three hundred ninety five teachers from three school types (primary, middle and secondary) from different districts participated in the research. A questionnaire was built to examine teachers’ perceptions in the four educational aspects. The research findings show that teachers from the three school types had positive perceptions of the interactive boards for teaching and learning. Further, significant differences were found in teachers’ perceptions of the interactive boards that could be attributed to school’s type and experience of teachers in using the interactive board in the classroom. Moreover, no significant differences were found in teachers’ perceptions that could be attributed to participating in a preparatory workshop or to gender.

High school identity climate and student identity development

This research investigated whether schools characterized by high school students as being rich in identity promoting features contribute to student identity development. A theoretical model posited that student perceptions of teachers as caring role models and their school as cultivating the whole student will foster student exploration and confidence about future identity development. Hypothesized mediators of these effects were student perceptions of a positive social climate, of experiencing meaningful studies and of affirmation of their agency and exploration. Participants were 2787 male and female students from the Jewish public-religious sector in Israel in 152 classes of 25 high schools. Results indicated that (a) schools with identity promoting features contribute to student identity development, (b) teachers as role models is a more potent variable than teacher caring in predicting student identity development and (c) experiencing meaningful studies is an especially important contributor to student exploration and identity confidence.

Developments in the residential energy sector in Israel

This work discusses the developments of the energy economy of Israel over the past two decades. On the one hand, the main phenomenon in Israel, as well as in most European Mediterranean countries, is the great increase in the use of air-conditioning, which has evolved from being marginal and concentrated in office buildings to being commonplace and used in the majority of the residential sector. On the other hand, there is a concerted effort to promote green (environmentally friendly, with energy conservation a large part) buildings both in the public and private sectors, with various degrees of success. There is a parallel effort to promote renewable energy sources.

New dimensions in the classroom climate

The focus of this study was the classroom climate for Grades 4, 5 and 6 students during mathematics classes in elementary schools in the Arab sector in Israel. The study included 3,786 Arab students. The use of a questionnaire indicated that five major factors related to classroom climate were Satisfaction and Enjoyment, Teacher–Student Relationships, Gender Inequality and Tension, Student–Student Relationships, and Competitiveness. Students were found to be happy, satisfied and to have a sense of unity. Discipline was a ‘sacred’ value that could not be disregarded. Rules and regulations, obedience and respect were integral components of satisfaction and enjoyment. The teacher–student relationship was positive, warm and supportive. The student–student relationship was fairly satisfactory. A feeling of social cohesion and belonging, mutual help and consideration pervaded the classroom. Students were polite to each other and disputes were rare. Low levels were perceived for Competitiveness and the desire for students to be first, achieve high marks and compete for teacher attention.