Showing papers by "Bar-Ilan University published in 2023"

Parents’ intention to vaccinate their 5- to 11-year-old children with the COVID-19 vaccine: rates, predictors and the role of incentives

Abstract: Abstract Introduction Immediately after Pfizer announced encouraging effectiveness and safety results from their COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials in 5- to 11-year-old children, this study aimed to assess parents’ perceptions and intention to vaccinate their 5-11-year-old children and to determine socio-demographic, health-related, behavioral factors, as well as the role of incentives. Methods A cross-sectional online survey of parents of children between 5 and 11 years of age among the Jewish population in Israel (n = 1,012). The survey was carried out between September 23 and October 4, 2021, at a critical time, immediately after Pfizer’s announcement. Two multivariate regressions were performed to determine predictors of parents’ intention to vaccinate their 5-11-year-old children against COVID-19. Results Overall, 57% of the participants reported that they intend to vaccinate their 5-11-year-old children against COVID-19 in the winter of 2022. 27% noted that they would vaccinate their 5-11-year-old children immediately; 26% within three months; and 24% within more than three months. Perceived susceptibility, benefits, barriers and cues to action, as well as two incentives - vaccine availability and receiving a “Green Pass” - were all significant predictors. However, Incentives such as monetary rewards or monetary penalties did not increase the probability of parents’ intention to vaccinate their children. Parental concerns centered around the safety of the vaccine, fear of severe side effects, and fear that clinical trials and the authorization process were carried out too quickly. Conclusion This study provides data on the role of incentives in vaccinating 5-11-year-old children, how soon they intend to do so, and the predictors of those intentions, which is essential knowledge for health policy makers planning vaccination campaigns.

Emergent stability in complex network dynamics

Abstract: The stable functionality of networked systems is a hallmark of their natural ability to coordinate between their multiple interacting components. Yet, strikingly, real-world networks seem random and highly irregular, apparently lacking any design for stability. What then are the naturally emerging organizing principles of complex-system stability? Encoded within the system's stability matrix, the Jacobian, the answer is obscured by the scale and diversity of the relevant systems, their broad parameter space, and their nonlinear interaction mechanisms. To make advances, here we uncover emergent patterns in the structure of the Jacobian, rooted in the interplay between the network topology and the system's intrinsic nonlinear dynamics. These patterns help us analytically identify the few relevant control parameters that determine a system's dynamic stability. Complex systems, we find, exhibit discrete stability classes, from asymptotically unstable, where stability is unattainable, to sensitive, in which stability abides within a bounded range of the system's parameters. Most crucially, alongside these two classes, we uncover a third class, asymptotically stable, in which a sufficiently large and heterogeneous network acquires a guaranteed stability, independent of parameters, and therefore insensitive to external perturbation. Hence, two of the most ubiquitous characteristics of real-world networks - scale and heterogeneity - emerge as natural organizing principles to ensure stability in the face of changing environmental conditions.

Residence near industrial complex and cancer incidence: A registry-based cohort of 1,022,637 participants with a follow-up of 21 years, Israel

Abstract: Industrial complex (IC) residence is associated with higher cancer incidence in adults and children. However, the effect on young adults and the residence duration are not well described. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the Haifa bay area (HBA) has a major IC area with petrochemical industry complex and many other industries. The objectives of the current study were to estimate the association between IC residence and cancer incidence and to evaluate the effect of the residence duration.This study is a registry-based cohort (N = 1,022,637) with a follow-up of 21 years. Cox regression models were used to evaluate the associations (hazards ratios (HR) and its 95% confidence intervals (CIs)) between HBA residence and incidence of all cancer sites (n = 62,049) and for site-specific cancer types including: lung cancer (n = 5398), bladder cancer (n = 3790), breast cancer (n = 11,310), prostate cancer (n = 6389) skin cancer (n = 4651), pancreatic cancer (n = 2144) and colorectal cancer (n = 8675). We evaluated the effect of the duration of exposure as categories of 7 years for those with 15 years of follow-up.IC residence was associated with higher risk for all cancer sites (HR:1.09, 95% CI: 1.06-1.12), for site-specific cancer incidence including: lung cancer (HR:1.14, 95% CI: 1.04-1.23), bladder cancer (HR:1.11, 95% CI: 1.01-1.23), breast cancer (HR:1.04, 95% CI: 0.98-1.10), prostate cancer (HR:1.07, 95% CI: 0.99-1.16), skin cancer (HR:1.22, 95% CI: 1.12-1.33) and colorectal cancer (HR:1.10, 95%CI: 1.03-1.17). Similar risk was also observed among young adults (HR: 1.10, 95% CI: 1.00-1.20). In the analyses for the duration of exposure, IC residence was associated with higher risk for all cancer site for the longest residence duration (15-21 years: HR: 1.08, 95% CI: 1.04-1.13).Harmful associations were found between IC residence and incidence of all cancer sites and site-specific cancers types. Our findings add to the limited evidence of associations between IC residence and cancer in young adults.

Learning a Lesson: Spiritual Attributions of Sexual Trauma and Revictimization.

Abstract: This study aims to explore how individuals with affiliation to spirituality and victimization attribute sexual trauma and revictimization to spiritual principles and its perceived impact on victim assistance. A phenomenological research was conducted with 36 participants divided into three groups: female survivors who turned to spirituality as part of their recovery process (n = 17), spiritually oriented therapists who treat survivors (n = 10), and spiritual leaders and teachers who are often consulted by survivors and their close ones (n = 9). Findings show three prominent themes: (a) ephemeral and eternal components of existence; (b) learning a lesson; and (c) Tikkun Olam (Hebrew: world's repairment). The findings contribute theoretical and practical applications: they offer deep insights into the spiritual reason for revictimization and its cessation, and suggest innovative external explanations anchored in ancient knowledge that can alleviate survivors' suffering from self-blame. The study lays the foundation for an upcoming theory entitled Spiritual Victimology.

New Biocompatible Nanohydrogels of Predefined Sizes for Complexing Nucleic Acids

Abstract: The advent of protein expression using m-RNA applied lately for treating the COVID pandemic, and gene editing using CRISPR/Cas9 technology for introducing DNA sequences at a specific site in the genome, are milestones for the urgent need of developing new nucleic acid delivery systems with improved delivery properties especially for in vivo applications. We have designed, synthesized, and characterized novel cross-linked monodispersed nanohydrogels (NHG's) with well-defined sizes ranging between 50-400 nm. The synthesis exploits the formation of self-assemblies generated upon heating a thermo-responsive mixture of monomers. Self-assemblies are formed and polymerized at high temperatures resulting in NHGs with sizes that are predetermined by the sizes of the intermediate self-assemblies. The obtained NHGs were chemically reduced to lead particles with highly positive zeta potential and low cell toxicity. The NHGs form complexes with DNA, and at optimal charge ratio the size of the complexes is concomitant with the size of the NHG's. Thus, the DNA is fully embedded inside the NHGs. The new NHGs and their DNA complexes are devoid of cell toxicity which together with their tunned sizes, make them potential tools for gene delivery and foreign protein expression.

Difference between zoom-based online versus classroom lesson plan performances in creativity and metacognition during COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract: The COVID-19 crisis has forced education systems around the world to switch hurriedly from learning in class to learning via online technology. One of the common platforms worldwide for teaching online was zoom. Working under uncertain conditions and facing rapid changes are characteristics of the twenty-first century. Coping adaptively with these challenges requires teachers to apply twenty-first century skills such as creativity and metacognition in their teaching. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether teachers integrate metacognition and creativity in their online lessons more than in classroom instruction. To examine the research question, we analyzed 50 lesson reports (25 for each learning environment) using a mixed-method design model. We used a performance assessment that was based on a creativity metacognitive teaching reports index. Teachers reported greater use of the 'debugging' metacognitive component in online lessons than in classroom lessons. Also, an online environment could provide a suitable platform for promoting students' learning process and encourage teachers to be more creative in terms of diversifying their teaching methods and developing student’s creativity. However, the originality component of creativity was less pronounced in online lesson reports. These results can contribute to the field of blended learning and to the literature dealing with the adaptation of teaching to learning environments in the twenty-first century in general and during pandemics in particular.

Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model: Non-self-averaging properties of the energy spectrum

Abstract: The short time (large energy) behavior of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model (SYK) is one of the main reasons for the growing interest garnered by this model. True chaotic behavior sets in at the Thouless time, which can be extracted from the energy spectrum. In order to do so, it is necessary to unfold the spectrum, i.e., to filter out global tendencies. Using a simple ensemble average for unfolding results in a parametically low estimation of the Thouless energy. By examining the behavior of the spectrum as the distribution of the matrix elements is changed into a log-normal distribution, it is shown that the sample-to-sample level spacing variance determines this estimation of the Thouless energy. Using the singular value decomposition method, which filters out these global sample-to-sample fluctuations, the Thouless energy becomes parametrically much larger, essentially of the order of the band width. It is shown that the SYK model is non-self-averaging even in the thermodynamic limit which must be taken into account in considering its short time properties.

Spiritual Victimology: Basic Principles

Abstract: This study aims to describe the spiritual characteristics of sexual victimization and the recovery journey of survivors via applying spiritual principles, in order to harness the findings for the development of the theory of Spiritual Victimology. Two research questions were asked: what spiritual principles characterize victimization and recovery from it, and how can spiritual perceptions assist survivors? In a phenomenological study, 17 sexual trauma survivors who view their recovery as a spiritual journey, 10 spiritually-oriented therapists, and 9 spiritual leaders were interviewed. Findings show that a unique, victimized self-centeredness characterized sexual trauma, attaching survivors to a victim identity. By applying spiritual principles, the survivors were gradually opened up to love and developed a new, spiritual sense of self, with better inter- and intra-personal connections, as well as a transpersonal one. This connection was perceived as highly important to survivors' recovery, freeing them from loneliness and isolation, and helping them to restore some order to the chaos which the trauma and its consequences had imposed on their lives.

Toward augmenting tip-enhanced nanoscopy with optically resolved scanning probe tips

Abstract: A thorough understanding of biological species and emerging nanomaterials requires, among other efforts, their in-depth characterization through optical techniques capable of nanoresolution. Nanoscopy techniques based on tip-enhanced optical effects have gained tremendous interest over the past years, given their potential to obtain optical information with resolutions limited only by the size of a sharp probe interacting with focused light, irrespective of the illumination wavelength. Although their popularity and number of applications is rising, tip-enhanced nanoscopy (TEN) techniques still largely rely on probes that are not specifically developed for such applications, but for atomic force microscopy. This limits their potential in many regards, e.g., in terms of signal-to-noise ratio, attainable image quality, or extent of applications. We take the first steps toward next-generation TEN by demonstrating the fabrication and modeling of specialized TEN probes with known optical properties. The proposed framework is highly flexible and can be easily adjusted to be used with diverse TEN techniques, building on various concepts and phenomena, significantly augmenting their function. Probes with known optical properties could potentially enable faster and more accurate imaging via different routes, such as direct signal enhancement or facile and ultrafast optical signal modulation. We consider that the reported development can pave the way for a vast number of novel TEN imaging protocols and applications, given the many advantages that it offers.

When the Mind Comes to Live Inside the Body: The Ontogeny of the Perceptual Control Clock

Abstract: Abstract: In this editorial, we discuss the neurobiological processes underlying the early emergence of awareness that we term the “when” and “how” the mind comes to live inside the body. We describe an accumulative developmental process starting during embryonic life and continuing to fetal and postnatal development, of coupling of heart rate, body movements, and sleep states on the behavioral level with underlying mechanisms on the structural, functional, cellular, and molecular levels. A developmental perspective is proposed based on Perceptual Control Theory (PCT). This includes a developing sequence of modules starting from early sensing of neural intensities to early manifestation of human mindful capacities. We also address pharmacological treatments administered to preterm infants, which may interfere with this development, and highlight the need to consider this potential “side effect” of current pharmaceuticals when developing novel pharmacogenomic treatments.

Upper Bounds on the Mismatched Reliability Function and Capacity Using a Genie Receiver

Abstract: We develop a novel framework for proving converse theorems for channel coding, which is based on the analysis technique of multicast transmission with an additional auxiliary receiver, which serves as a genie to the original receiver. The genie provides the original receiver a certain narrowed list of codewords to choose from that includes the transmitted one. This technique is used to derive upper bounds on the mismatch capacity of discrete memoryless channels as well as the reliability function with a mismatched decoding metric. Unlike previous works, our bounding technique exploits also the inherent symmetric requirement from the codewords, leading to these new upper bounds. Since the computations of most of the known bounds on the mismatch capacity are rather complicated, we further present a method to obtain relaxed bounds that are easier to compute. As an example, we analyze the obtained bounds in the binary-input channels case. We conclude by presenting simpler bounds on the reliability function, and provide sufficient conditions for their tightness in certain ranges of rates.

A first global height-resolved cloud condensation nuclei data set derived from spaceborne lidar measurements

Abstract: Abstract. We present a global multiyear height-resolved data set of aerosol-type-specific cloud condensation nuclei concentrations (nCCN) estimated from the spaceborne lidar aboard the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) satellite. For estimating nCCN, we apply the recently introduced Optical Modelling of the CALIPSO Aerosol Microphysics (OMCAM) algorithm to the CALIPSO level 2 aerosol profile product. The estimated nCCN are then gridded into a uniform latitude-longitude grid of 2° × 5°, a vertical grid of resolution 60 m from the surface to an altitude of 8 km, and a temporal resolution of one month. The data spans a total of 186 months, from June 2006 to December 2021. In addition, we provide a 3D aerosol-type-specific climatology of nCCN produced using the complete time series. We further highlight some potential applications of the data set in the context of aerosol-cloud interactions. The complete data set can be accessed at https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.956215 (Choudhury and Tesche, 2023).

The Challenge of Sustainability: A New Covenant for Humanity

Abstract: Never has humanity experienced so palpably and unambiguously a feeling of collective fate. The common experience of facing danger and suffering disrupts our faith in life and evokes questions of meaning and existence. Humanity facing the challenge of sustainability: global warming, climate change, new viruses, pandemics, and the new technology – Artificial Intelligence. From East to West, people find themselves in fear and exposed to the questions of their fate and real suffering. Nature demands that humankind join hands in the battle against ecological problems. The awareness of the collective fate that has been forced upon us, has the potential to mark a new kind of partnership for humanity as a whole. Jewish tradition tried to teach human beings that their mission in life is to turn fate into destiny, to turn a passive existence into an active one – to move from being an object dictated to by powers greater than he or she, to a subject who determines his or her own path and meaning in the world. The readiness of humanity to enter into the covenant of fate—the willpower of individuals to take responsibility for the community, to join together in times of distress, out of a sense of obligation and responsibility—is worthy of honor and recognition.

The Global Oil Market and the Status of the Suez Canal

Abstract: Abstract The Suez Canal has played a significant role in the economic history of the Middle East. It is an important source of revenue for Egypt and a conduit for the commodity that is identified more than any other with the nations of the region: oil. The most traded commodity in the world is considered a mainstay of the Suez Canal’s revenue, constituting about 20% of the goods transferred through it. Despite its role as an important conduit of oil, geopolitical events, and international economic crises have undermined the Suez Canal’s international status. This chapter aims to describe the reciprocal relationship between the oil market and the Suez Canal. The chapter will begin with a discussion of the impact of the Arab–Israeli conflict on global oil trade through the Suez Canal, and will follow up with an examination of the impact of economic crises and OPEC decisions on canal traffic. Finally, the chapter will suggest several factors that might damage the Suez Canal’s international status in the long term.

Israel’s Response to Boycotts and Soft-Power Warfare

Abstract: In parallel to military conflict and terrorism, Israel has been subject to different forms of economic warfare, boycotts, and delegitimization even before the formation of the state. In recent years, this soft-power warfare emphasized BDS (boycotts, divestment, and sanctions) campaigns, accompanied by UN resolutions and legal actions through the International Criminal Court (ICC). This chapter describes and analyzes the threats and responses including the main actors, strategies, and outcomes in this conflict dimension. Launched at the 2001 UN Durban Conference on Racism, the campaigns are led by the Palestinian leadership, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and an influential network of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The strategy copied mechanisms and terminology used against the South African apartheid regime. The Israeli government’s response began slowly and inconsistently, reflecting the low-level threat perception and capacity regarding soft-power conflict compared to hard power. The boycott and lawfare efforts received little attention in the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, as IDF officials became concerned over potential impacts, including measures in the UN and ICC, the government increased the resources allocated to countering the campaigns. In 2015, the Ministry of Strategic Affairs was tasked with coordinating these efforts but with limited success. The NGO-led campaigns using terms such as “apartheid” to single out Israel increased, as well as more UN condemnations, pension fund divestment, and corporate responsibility ratings that relied on the same mechanisms. To a significant degree, this outcome reflects the inherent difficulties governments face in soft-power warfare.